Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Duncias was a mock-epic poem by Alexander Pope that was first published in 1728. Originally, the poem has four books, the first three being published in 1728, and the fourth in 1743. The books are loosely connected, each taking place in a different setting, with little narrative cohesion from one to the next. The title is a pun on the classic epics including Homer’s The Illiad, and Virgil’s The Aeneid, and suggests the mock-epic style. It is a long narrative poem written in Heroic Couplets, that is, most of the lines of the poem are written in iambic pentameter with 10 syllables in each line.
Background and Context of The Dunciad:
The Dunciad follows the mock-epic element of MacFlecknoe by John Dryden in which Dryden satirized Thomas Shadwell as the heir to a kingdom of poetic dullness. Pope had already made acquaintance with Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, and Robert Harley. The group was known as the Scriblerus group and they combinedly adopted the pseudonym Marcus Scriblerus by using which, they used to publish satirical works against political ills and other issues including contemporary authors and critics of poor taste. It was a period when the printing press was making huge strides and that created a flood of amateurs authors and writers publishing their books that reduced the quality of literature. The number of people who figured they could, or should be artists, sky-rocketed. Pope was aghast at this turn of events and thus, the Scribelrus group started satirizing the newly emerging authors, poets, and publishers that had no literary quality to be recognized.
In 1925, Alexander Pope edited and published William Shakespeare’s collective works. In 1928, Lewis Theobald published Shakespeare Restored, another edited edition of Shakespeare’s work. Theobald’s edition was better than that of Pope’s in all accounts but the way he tried to belittle Pope was not in good taste. It was proven that Theobald was a better editor than Pope, but Pope was a much better poet than Theobald and he proved this by writing a satire with its main character Tibbald, the favorite son of the goddess of Dullness, based on Theobalt. Pope published The Dunciad anonymously in 1728 and it contained three books. In 1729, he republished The Dunciad Vorarorium anonymously but Tibbalt remained the main character. In 1743, Pope republished The Dunciad in Four Books and this time, he added some new characters and changed the main character from Tibbalt to Bays, the new hero which was based on Colley Ciber. The Dunciad is made of many Dunces but Tibbald remained the king. Primarily, The Dunciad is a satire on hack artists that satirized not only Lewis Theobald, but also Colley Cibber, John Dennis, the Reverend Laurence Eusden, Lord Hervey, and others. Pope tried to portray everything wrong in the literary circles and publishing market. Furthermore, The Dunciad also satirizes the imperial intervention in the literary circle. Pope based the character of the goddess of Dullness on Queen Caroline, as the fat, lazy and dull wife.
Characters of The Dunciad:
The prime character is the goddess of Dullness, the daughter of Night and Chaos who is ruling the world for eternity. Her face always remained covered by a veil of fog. Her favorite son is Tibbalt (Bayes) whom she appoints as the King of Dulness following the death of Eusden, the poet laureate. Dulness is worshipped by all but she has got her share of enemies in form of Order, Arts, and the Sciences. Pope has depicted Dulness as various reigning feminine figures like Virgin Mary at different points by using symbols and imagery such as carnations, and the sleeping Cibber held in her lap like the baby Jesus. The Ghost of Elknath Settle appears as a ghost in a dream of Tibbalt and reveals images of the future to the King of Dulness. The Educator is based on Scottish philosopher John Duns Scotus who was infamous for placing too much emphasis on the subtleties of grammar rather than communicating meaningful things. Eliza, the Poetess appears in Book Two. She is the prize of a contest among dull poets. She is gorgeous like Juno, the wife of Jove, and thus, is a great inspiration for men. She reappears in Book IV as the Harlot. Curll appears in Book II as a competitor in many races for the prize of the phantom poet. He is based on Edmund Curll, a bookseller, and publisher. Jove is the most powerful of the Roman gods and goddesses. Jove is used in the invocation of Book I and also appears in Book II, where he may choose to interfere or not on behalf of the contestants. Cloacina is a minor Roman goddess of the sewer system. She is a servant of Jove and a goddess known for protecting sexual intercourse in marriage.
Summary of The Dunciad:
It is a mock epic by Alexander Pope to criticize and satirize the literary and artistic world in England of his times. Pope depicts it as a period when the world is taken over by unoriginal, insipid, and boring work meant for the masses by writers, poets, and critics. Thus, England appears like a mythical realm of despair where the goddess of Dulness rules.
Following the epic style, the narrator calls for his muses for the success of this epic. His muses are “The Mighty Mother and her son who brings/ The Smithfield Muses to the ear of Kings.”
The narrator then declares that the work is inspired by Dulness, Jove, and Fate and establishes a relationship between the three powers with his work. The suggestion is that the intellectual culture of England is being ruled by Dulness while Jove represents the Classical element in the poem. Fate suggests that whatever bad is happening, is the fate that cannot be changed, or challenged.
After the death of the poet-laureate, she is looking for a new successor to be her right hand, her King, to help her bring about true chaos and darkness in England. A competition is held for the title of most boring poet. Bayes (or Tibbalt), a young poet competes but he is doubtful of his caliber and thus, he assumed that he failed to impress the goddess of Dulness. He decides to burn all his writings and makes an altar of them so that he may pursue some other profession. As he is about to light the fire, the goddess of Dulness appears and stops him from doing so. She is too impressed by Bayes. She takes him to her realm of Dullness and announces him as her heir, her righthand, King Ciber. All the Dunces, the followers of Dulness thus start following King Ciber. Book 1 ends here.
To commemorate the coronation of King Ciber as her heir, Dullness declares a competition that includes the phantom poet race, a pissing contest, a tickling contest, a diving contest, and finally a challenge to see which critic might stay awake longest while being read incredibly dull work. While all Dunces are present at the ceremony, Dulness keeps his eyes on Ciber, her favorite son. During the last segment of the competition, all dunces fall asleep including King Ciber.
The goddess of Dullness then approaches him and takes him to her throne in her arms. As she sits on her throne, she takes the new King Ciber in her lap and anoints his eyes with dew, and wraps him in her veil. As he sleeps Cibber dreams that he is being transported to the Underworld. Book 2 ends here.
In his dream, King Ciber reaches Underworld where he is guided by Sibyl who takes him to Bavius, the place where souls are made dull before being sent to Earth. King Ciber is awestruck by observing the huge number of dull souls gathered at the bank of River Styx and waiting for their turn to be sent to the Earth. He is the ruler of all these souls and many more. At Bavius, he meets Eknath Settle’s departed spirit. It is the ghost of the previous Nobel laureate whose death resulted in the coronation of the new king. The ghost of Eknath Settle takes King Ciber to the Mount of Vision to understand the history of Dulness and how she became such an invincible force. As the new king, Ciber must also understand his kingdom's weaknesses. Eknath Settle informs him that the major enemies of the goddess of Dulness are Order, Arts, and Sciences. He says that in past, the goddess of Dulness lost ground only to the spread of Science and Logic. However, she is winning back the lost ground slowly, but definitively. The ghost of Eknath Settle inspires Ciber to help the goddess of Dulness in winning her lost ground back. Then the ghost offers him a vision of the future and Ciber finds himself amid some very beautiful and fantastical creatures and prophetic figures. King Ciber is told that this is the chaotic world that the goddess of Dullness aims to acquire. He is told that he must help the goddess of Dulness to usher in the chaotic world and establish herself as the ruler among Chaos and Night. King Ciber is overwhelmed by the grand planning of the goddess of Dullness and he wakes up from his dream, finding himself in the lap of the goddess. Book 3 ends here.
Book Four begins as all the prophecies and visions suggested in Book III to king Ciber have come true. The goddess of Dullness has acquired all her lost land by beating Order, Arts, and Science. She has enslaved all the supporters of Order and Reason along with the Muses, the Sciences, Religion, History, and others. The goddess of Dullness appoints her stooges to spread her effect in various parts of Britain. All the servants of Dulness, from students to teachers to tribes and so on, arrive to address her and explain how they have carried out her will. The goddess f Dullness is impressed by their work and offers a celebratory drink to them as their prize. As her servants take the drink, it makes them free and oblivious of any sense of duty and obligation to their fellow man, morals, virtues, or art. The goddess of Dullness is convinced that now she will not be opposed by anyone and will easily gain power over all. She offers Titles and Decrees to her followers and invites Chaos and Night to reign over them along with her. The Dunciad ends with this emphatic victory of Dullness over Order, Arts, and Sciences.
This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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