Satire upon Contemporary Poets– In the poem, Pope directly calls out the poetasters whom he refers to as dogs. He states that these poets try to distract and disturb him everywhere he goes. As a satirist, he is direct and straight forward with his attack. His satire is personal and subjective where he exposes the hypocrisy of other poets whom he thinks are absurd and ingenuine as they try to blackmail him or bribe him to correct their poems. He even calls them out for being too sensitive when he gives criticisms on their poem and cannot take his advice on reading good Greek poet like Horace and wait some years for the publication of poems. He satirizes poets which Arbuthnot warns him not mention in his poem but Pope has always been direct , critical and bold in his writings and mentions inferior poets such as Colley, Harley, Bavius, Bishop Phillips and Sappho. He ridicules them and even calls out a few dramatists for asking him to correct their scripts and justifies himself that he is honest and bold. Pope further goes on to say that these poetasters should leave him alone for he is just an ordinary man with a huge debts. He prays to God regularly and only the liars will fear his satires. He thinks that a man with good intention should not fear his criticisms and satire.
Satire upon Contemporary Critics– As far as Pope’s writings are concerned , he attacks the critics who were contemporary to Pope. He mentions as usual their names in his poems but he first states that he cares little for the people who find fault in his writings and calls them donkey or fools. He even calls out Addison who was a writer and Pope criticized him for attacking other writers but Pope states that Addison is a coward and he fears the criticism of other people. He even calls out Ambrose Phillips who he consider as a poetaster who copies and plagiarizes Greek Literature and earns money off from it. He mocks Lord Halifax for being another poetaster who flatters them and helps them in their writings. Pope states that the critics of him are cheap and he would readily accept his mistake if their criticisms are genuine.
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Satire Upon Lord Hervey– Pope goes to attack another contemporary Lord Hervey with a name Sporus personally and it is subjective. The personal hatred and anguish of Pope itself is clearly showing in the poem where he calls him a foolish person who is incapable of killing a butterfly with his own wheels. He thinks that Hervey drinks the milk of a donkey. He claims that he do not understand the distinction between satirical poems and other poems making him a senseless person. He becomes subjective and opinionated later highlighting that Hervey is pleases people at the court and loves worldly desires and pleasures and even claim him to be homosexual who is a devil and the one who can change or flip in a moment.
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