"Sound and Sense from Essay on Criticism" by Alexander Pope (poetry reading)

This looks like a sonnet but it's just 14 lines chosen from Essay on Criticism:
http://poetry.eserver.org/essay-on-criticism.html

It describes how the sound of the words should match what they are describing. For instance:

"Dry clashed his harness in the icy caves
And barren chasms, and all to left and right
The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based
His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang
Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels..."
(which is Tennyson at his best, Mort d'Arthur)

It's called onomatopoeia - or melopoeia,as Ezra Pound called it. Nowadays this is almost a lost art. Most modern poets don't bother about how their poems sound. They seem more concerned with how they look on paper, paying more attention to line-breaks.

"Timotheus' varied lays" refers to an ode called "Alexander's Feast" by John Dryden, subtitled "The Power of Music". Its theme is how music can bypass reason and stir up emotions.
http://www.poetry-online.org/dryden_alexanders_feast.htm

Odours also have the ability to short-circuit the analytical brain and evoke emotions and memories instantly.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Sound
• and
• Sense
• Essay
• on
• Criticism
• Alexander
• Pope

[marcolopolis55]

Can an essay be a poem too?

[SpokenVerse]

He also wrote "An Essay on Man", which was a poem too. The dictionary says, "A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author."

[LunarNinja88]

Thank you, SpokenVerse. I love Alexander Pope, especially An Essay on Criticism. You just made my day. :)

[sonofwalt]

A a classic poet's poem. I have always loved this and appreciate the reminders. Excellent read!

[marcolopolis55]

interesting