The Dunciad

“We shall next declare the occasion and the cause which moved our poet to this particular work. He lived in those days, when (after Providence had permitted the invention of Printing as a scourge for the sins of the learned) Paper also became so cheap, and Printers so numerous, that a deluge of Authors covered the land.”

This is one of the most important passages of the introductory materials. It provided 18th-century readers with Alexander Pope’s motivations, and it provides modern readers with necessary context. Scriblerus goes on from here to explain how Pope felt obligated “to dissuade the dull, and punish the wicked.”

“‘This is an allusion to a text in Scripture, which shews, in Mr. Pope, a delight in prophaneness,’ said Curl upon this place. But it is very familiar with Shakespear to allude to passages of Scripture: Out of a great number I will select a few, in which he not only alludes to, but quotes the very Texts from holy Writ.”

The note to Line 50 in Book 1 is one of the earliest in which a criticism regarding the earlier editions is directly addressed. The author even includes the necessary works cited when he calls out the Dunces and flings their words back at them.

“Prose swell’d to verse, verse loit’ring into prose”

At various points in The Dunciad, the reader is reminded that, ultimately, Pope’s biggest issue is with the literary standards of the day. Here and elsewhere he gives examples that are hallmarks of what he considers bad writing.