Purpose:
Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore Of all who blindly creep or sightless soar; Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the
manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man. In his Argument, Pope ends by telling the reader his purpose. In this case, it is to “vindicate the ways of God to man.” Think about the word choice “vindicate.” He doesn’t write “explain.’ He believes that one can prove the ways of God to man by an examination of Nature. Purpose
Reason:
Say first, of God above or Man below What can we reason but from what we know? Of man what see we but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? Just as God created the universe out of his Reason, we can use that same Reason to understand the universe. To do so, we have to just take our own surroundings and then expand. Reason
Pride and Presumption:
Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less! Ask of thy mother earth why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade! Pope writes about the human tendency to question God, to ask why. Why do bad things happen? Why are we born flawed? Remember that this is not a theoretical question for Pope. His physical deformities and illnesses were a constant struggle. Pope notes that we never ask why we weren’t born less, we only question why not better. In other words, we are presumptuous and prideful rather than grateful. Pride and Presumption
The Fall:
Pride still is aiming at the bless'd abodes, Men would be Angels, Angels would be Gods. Aspiring to be Gods if Angels fell, Aspiring to be Angels men rebel: And who but wishes to invert the laws Of order, sings against th'Eternal Cause. There were two great falls in Christian cosmology: the fall of Lucifer and the fall of Adam and Eve. Pope saw those events as having the same motivation: Pride. Lucifer aspired to overthrow God,, rather than be content to be one of the three archangels. Adam and Eve were convinced by the serpent that they would be as God, if they are of the forbidden fruit. The Fall
The End of the Matter:
All Nature is but Art unknown to thee; All chance direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good: And spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. These lines are the conclusion of the poem and are a clear expression of Neoclassical ideas. Everything is as God designed it. This has profound implications on questions about good and evil. The End of the Matter