Alexander Pope

First, I loved this reading! It seemed to pick up right where we left up, after reading Milton. Pope, to me, seems like he is rationalizing the way that God has set up the world for men to live in...much like Milton explained how Adam and Eve were responsible for the fall of man, and subsequent necessary salvation by Jesus. One line that really matched up:

"Weak, foolish man! will heaven reward us there
With the same trash mad mortals wish for here?
The boy and man an individual makes,
Yet sighest thou now for apples and for cakes?
Go, like the Indian, in another life
Expect thy dog, thy bottle, and thy wife:
As well as dream such trifles are assigned,
As toys and empires, for a God-like mind."

Pope is basically saying that man has no way of knowing what God has planned-crying over man's current state on Earth is pointless because Earth was never meant to be man's reward. Pope's subject matter was a popular one during the Enlightenment period; I found an article discussing Voltaire and Pope's relation, and often similar ideas, on the state of man during this time.