Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope's poem "An Epistle to a Lady" clearly sets out to show the qualities of an ideal woman. These qualities are further enforced through the contrast of portraits of women who are in some way immoral or otherwise not ideal. The themes of Pope's poem use the portraits to sound a theme and then turn the theme to positive advantage in the final compliment to Martha Blount. The form of this poem is a Horatian Epistle. Usually the receiver of a Horatian Epistle is an Aristocratic male who serves both to modulate the poet's tone and to suggest that even aristocrats can be educated by a poet. In "An Epistle to a Lady", Pope defies this characteristic trait of Horatian Epistles and dedicates his poem to a woman of middle class standing, the readers of such poems are encouraged to agree that such folly is wrong and far from the ideal behavior. Pope's "Epistle to a Lady" is set within the tradition of literature directed at teaching women how to be proper, polite young women. The influences and the context of this poem are eighteenth century conduct books, moral essays, sermons, biographies, and poems directed at a predominately female audience. Pope establishes a social relationship between author and reader as well as author and recipient of the epistle. It is the respect and friendship of the author and recipient, which starts the poem and then permeates it. Pope also establishes a pleasant personal relationship with his lady, he will draw the lady's own values to counterbalance the romantic folly in most of the poem.