Poem: An Essay on Man

Overview
Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man is a philosophical poem in heroic couplets that seeks to map the moral order of the universe and the proper place of humanity within it. Addressed to Lord Bolingbroke and written during 1733–34, it condenses Enlightenment debates about reason, faith, and social order into polished verse, offering an optimistic theodicy: the world, despite its evils and enigmas, reveals a benevolent Providence when viewed as a whole.

Structure and Scope
The poem is arranged in four epistles. The first considers humanity’s station in the cosmic hierarchy; the second examines human nature and the interplay of reason and passion; the third surveys social bonds, government, and religion; the fourth explores the pursuit of happiness. Across these parts, Pope insists on humility before the limits of human understanding while arguing that virtue and social harmony are achievable through aligning self-love with the general good.

Order, Providence, and the Chain of Being
Pope begins by urging humans to accept their middle rank between angels and beasts, part of a vast Great Chain of Being that extends from the simplest creature to God. Apparent irregularities and evils arise from viewing fragments rather than the whole. Human reason, bounded and partial, errs when it presumes to judge the entire design. The refrain of Epistle I is trust: “Whatever is, is right,” not as fatalism, but as counsel to see particular hardships as contributing to a larger order that remains, to us, largely unseen.

Human Nature: Reason and Passion
Epistle II portrays humans as governed by two principles, self-love and reason, alongside a complex array of passions. Pope neither demonizes the passions nor idolizes reason; instead, he argues that virtue emerges when reason regulates and redirects the passions to beneficial ends. Traits often condemned in excess, ambition, fear, desire, become socially useful when moderated. The celebrated line “The proper study of mankind is man” underscores his call for moral inquiry grounded in human limits and possibilities rather than speculative metaphysics.

Society, Government, and Public Good
Turning outward, Pope contends in Epistle III that humans are naturally sociable and that society’s variety, ranks, professions, institutions, forms a reciprocal system of checks and supports. Government and religion, imperfect as they are, bind communities and steer private interests toward public benefit. He opposes extremes of anarchy and tyranny, arguing for balance and for a conception of justice measured by the good of the whole. Social inequality, though often harsh in appearance, can serve a coordinating function within the broader order.

Happiness, Virtue, and Submission
In Epistle IV Pope rejects the pursuit of happiness through wealth, honor, or fame; such goods are unstable, comparative, and prone to corrupt desire. True happiness lies in virtue: a steady mind aligned with Providence, content with its lot, benevolent toward others, and hopeful beyond present ills. The proper act is not to “scan” God but to know oneself, to accept mortal limits, and to cultivate a generous, cheerful submission that transforms self-love into a principle of social and moral harmony.

Style and Legacy
Composed in tightly balanced couplets, the poem distills complex philosophical claims into memorable aphorisms, antitheses, and images. Its confident optimism, especially the maxim “Whatever is, is right”, provoked later criticism, yet its central demands for humility, proportionality, and charitable judgment endure. As a synthesis of Enlightenment rationalism with Augustan poise and Christian providentialism, An Essay on Man remains a touchstone for debates about evil, order, and the moral education of desire.