Ode on Solitude
Poem by Alexander Pope
“Ode on Solitude” by Alexander Pope talks about a simple life close to nature. The poem praises and encourages a man who is content with a small plot of inherited land, finding joy in its bounty of food and comfort that it provides. It describes the peacefulness of days passing calmly, filled with peaceful sleep and leisurely pursuits and talks like study and meditation. The man desires to live and die unnoticed, wishing for a humble existence away from worldly recognition and fame. Pope’s poem highlights the beauty of living in harmony with nature and finding happiness in life’s simple pleasures, away from the noise and bustle of the world.
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope’s poem “Ode on Solitude” was composed in 1700, when the poet was only 12 years old. It seems to be the earliest extant poem by Pope.
Alexander Pope was born on 21 May 1688 in London, England, and he died on 30 May 1744 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, at the age of 56.
A poet, translator, and satirist, Pope was one of the most prominent English poets of the Enlightenment era and an exponent of Augustan literature. He is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translation of Homer.
Summary
The poet throws light on the real happiness of life in the poem, “Ode on Solitude”.
A man can be truly happy if he leads a life of contentment and simplicity. He should not be greedy. He should be satisfied with the few acres of land inherited from his ancestors. His field will give him food and his cow will give him milk.
His trees will give him shade and firewood and his sheep will give him the wool for clothing. He will have a healthy body and peace of mind, spending his time in study, rest and recreation. He will lead an innocent life and a life of meditation and prayer.
At the end, the poet says that he would like to live such a life and die in peace without being lamented by people. In fact, he would not like to be biased with a tombstone to be placed on his grave, to tell others about him.
Really he wants to lie unseen and unknown or a life of solitude, away from the dim and bustle of life. He also does not want people to express sorrow over his passing away.
Themes
Throughout, Pope engages with themes of solitude, hard work, and happiness. It is these three things that the speaker suggests are needed for a man to live a good life. Happy is the man, he begins, whose cares extend to a few “paternal acres bound.” Working hard and being content with the simple things are the most important ingredients for happiness. He concludes the poem by asking that he live “unseen, unknown” and die away from the world where no one can find him. It’s this kind of life, without exterior pressures or an image to maintain that appeals to him.
Structure and Form
‘Ode on Solitude’ by Alexander Pope is a five-stanza poem that is divided into sets of five lines. These lines follow a simple rhyme scheme of ABAB, changing end sounds from stanza to stanza. There are a few moments where the rhymes are less than perfect though. For instance, “bread” and “shade” at the ends of lines one and three of the first stanza. In regard to the meter, Pope structured the first three lines of each stanza with eight syllables and the fourth stanza with four.
Literary Devices
Throughout ‘Ode on Solitude,’ the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:
Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
Stanza One
Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.
This first verse of ‘Ode on Solitude,’ begins the analogy that will carry through the poem, seen through the life of an anonymous man who is described as being an ideal for happiness. His deepest desires, the narrator notes, extend a few acres of his own land, where he is content to live and work. The inclusion of the word “parental” suggests that the land belongs to this man by inheritance and therefore belongs solely to him. “Content to breathe his native air” could also be a commentary on being happy with what a person has, rather than constantly wishing for more (although this might not have been quite as significant an idea in 1700 when the poem was written, as it may be interpreted today).
The verse structure and rhyming pattern are established here; three lines of eight syllables each, followed by one line of four syllables, rhyming in an ABAB pattern. This persists up until the final two stanzas, at which point the final line lengthens to five syllables.
Stanza Two
Whose heards with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
This verse simply means that the man is self-sufficient. His land, now shown to be a farm, provides for all of his needs — his herds provide him with milk, he is able to bake his own bread. In the summer, his trees provide ample shade, and in the winter, the wood from those same trees can be lit to keep him warm. He has no need for anything beyond his own land.
While this verse reads strangely, as “bread” and “shade” do not rhyme, it is important to remember that ‘Ode on Solitude’ was written over three hundred years ago. During this period in Britain, “bread” was pronounced with a longer vowel sound. While word pronunciation is a difficult thing to estimate and predict throughout different eras of history, it makes sense to believe that at one point, “bread” and “shade” could be used as rhymes for one another.
Stanza Three
Blest! who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
The narrator considered this farmer blessed! Time almost doesn’t have meaning for this man; his world provides for all of his needs. Hours go by, days go by, years go by, and everything remains the same. The health the man is in at the beginning of this cycle is the health he remains in when it is finished. Peace of mind is normal for him — what is there to trouble him? It seems as though, in a world of peace and quiet, there is absolutely nothing that could disrupt the life of this farmer, and the narrator sees that as a high blessing.
Stanza Four
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix’d; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.
This verse sees the start of the final lines being five syllables long and continues the sentiment of the verse before it. The idea of innocence is introduced here and is a fair way to describe a man who lives his life in isolation; he is innocent, which means he himself probably doesn’t appreciate the kind of life he leads in the same way the narrator, author, or reader does. It’s a strange idea and casts the character of the farmer in a different light. He could, in fact, be viewed as a naïve and ignorant individual, one who simply doesn’t know enough about the world, or he could be viewed as living the ideal life.
Stanza Five
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me dye;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye.
The narrator of the poem clearly agrees with the latter of the above sentiments — here he wishes for escapism and begs for an unseen life, one where he may live in solitude until his dying days, which will come and go, unnoticed, unremarked, and unadorned, perfect life of solitude and peace.
Historical Context
Because of the very mature concepts expressed in ‘Ode on Solitude‘, particularly the bit about wishing to die alone, many might be surprised to learn that Alexander Pope wrote ‘Ode on Solitude‘ in 1700, at the age of twelve. At the time, Pope had just moved to a small estate by a forest, in a small village far from the main British towns. His family had been forced to live there because of their Catholic faith, and it could be here, in the village now known as Popeswood (named after Pope himself), that the young child found his ideals in solitude, undoubtedly being inspired by his new natural landscape, particularly the Windsor Forest.
It was also at this time that the Pope's formal education ended, another unfortunate result of being Catholic at the time. However, instead of giving up on learning altogether, Pope attempted to educate himself, drawing on classical literature, paying particular attention to well-known poets of the era.
With all of this background, it is altogether unsurprising that one of Pope’s earliest works would be a very mature poem about solitude. Abandoned largely by the world, it makes sense to think that solace in solitude was an everyday occurrence for the young Alexander Pope. When discussing earlier whether an entirely isolated farmer was a man to be looked down upon for his naïvety or respected for his independence, the perspective of Pope is clear — he envies the man. Understanding that the Pope was essentially forced out of mainstream society because of his religious beliefs might lead one to believe that the Pope would have viewed total exclusion from that mainstream society as the best thing that could happen to a person.
It is difficult to enter the mindset of the twelve-year-old Alexander Pope. When he writes, “let me live, unseen, unknown,” it is almost sad to think that this is not at all what happened — Pope did not live a life of seclusion but rather was a respected poet during his time and remains so today. Whether or not he changed his views on solitude is difficult to say. What is clear is that his Ode on Solitude was just the start of what would eventually become a literary career of classical fame and definite ingenuity for the now-famous Alexander Pope.
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