The Dunciad

The first book of The Dunciad, which runs to 330 lines of heroic couplets, sets the scene for the mock-epic and introduces most of the themes and elements that appear throughout. Very little action takes place as Dulness is taking over the land. According to the text, the time is ripe for the goddess’s return to power: Booksellers publish obscene books; elegies are paired with executions; journals, magazines, and other periodicals are printed without concern for the merit or veracity of the writing; personal libraries are vanity projects, filled with books that are never read; and one of the chief functions of the Poet Laureate is to compose occasional poetry. In short, there has been a precipitous Decline in Literary and Intellectual Standards.

Whereas other authors might have trusted their readers to understand the work’s meaning on their own, Pope doesn’t take any chances. The note for the very first line explains the author’s motivations, major themes, and significant influences, and it calls out some of the first edition’s critics. It cites lines from Virgil, offers a few lines of critical theory, and suggests amended translations. Pope never loses sight of his main purpose, however, which is to ridicule his so-called peers: “Wonderful is the stupidity of all the former Critics and Commentators on this work!” (1: R2).

In fact, nowhere in The Dunciad is the reader very far from an insult. Once Pope has finished with his introduction, he sets his critical eye on Colley Cibber: “Then gnaw’d his pen, then dash’d it on the ground, / Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound! / Plung’d for his sense, but found no bottom there, / Yet wrote and flounder’d on, in mere despair” (1: 117-20). As the most recent writer named Poet Laureate, Cibber embodies that decline that Pope laments, and his career is evidence of The Intermarriage of Poetry and Politics in 18th-Century England. The author criticizes Cibber’s writing, his career, his library, and his personal life, making it difficult for any reader to conclude that The Dunciad is meant only to address literary and intellectual concerns. Pope seems to be getting even with all those who have wronged him under the guise of defending the arts.

Anticipating this criticism perhaps, the poem mentions specific literary crimes that the author opposes. Once Dulness reveals herself to Cibber, she presents him with the tools of her ascension:

How, with less reading than makes felons scape,

Less human genius than God gives an ape,

Small thanks to France, and none to Rome or Greece,

A past, vamp’d, future, old, reviv’d, new piece,

‘Twixt Plautus, Fletcher, Shakespear, and Corneille,

Can make a Cibber, Tibbald, or Ozell (1: 281-86).

There are rules to good writing, according to Pope, and charlatans like “Cibber, Tibbald, or Ozell” only approach good writing when they’ve stolen from the likes of Shakespeare. The Dunciad is particularly critical of plagiarism, and there are many passages calling out Dunces who make a living from the practice. Pope includes countless allusions in the poem, but he is careful to cite each one, lest he be lumped together with those he’s accusing. The first book includes 15 “imitations,” or passages that mirror those taken from classical literature. Most of these are from Virgil, but Milton, Homer, and others are cited as well. In addition, virtually all 82 notes for this book include quotes and citations. Not only was Pope making it clear that he never took a word from anywhere without giving credit, he was also showing off his knowledge a bit, proving that he was not one of those whose library was just for show.

This knowledge extends even to the works of his enemies, those Dunces ridiculed in the poem. Some of the Dunces had plagiarized Pope himself, or published unauthorized editions of his work, looking to make some easy money. Plagiarism like this was intimately entwined with The Corruption of Mercenary Literature. If a writer relied solely on their words to earn their living, then the speed with which they could write and the breadth of topics they could cover increased their chances of affording to live. The fastest way to cover the most literary ground? Steal from other authors.

Pope and his friends may have earned money from what they wrote and published, but money was not their reason for writing. They cared about the history, craft, and joy of writing, as well as the conversations that their works entered and continued. There was no satisfaction to be gained by stealing work from others. Instead, they used the secret language of allusions to communicate their knowledge and impress their peers, hoping to lift their work above those who merely wrote for pay and didn’t care for artistry.