“To err is human; for forgive, divine. ” “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. ” “Damn with faint recommendations. ” “Hope springs everlasting. ” Alexander Pope’s mastery of the couplet and epigram survives in pithy flutter to this day, though many can be difficult pressed to attribute an author to those sparkling phrases. These BBC’s other literary including this week is Lady Boss (October 15), a movie about bonkbuster novelist Margaret Collins. Wordplay around “rich” and “bitch” isn’t attractive what Pope meant using “what oft was said but ne’er so well attributed. ”
“Eternal sunlight of the spotless mind” titled a weird Kate Winslet film, while “who breaks a butterfly attached to a wheel? ” ruisseau the Times a poignant head line for Mick Jagger’s 60s drug bust. John Cleese is a fan (“Pope was obviously a very straight guy”), together writer and academic Philip Hensher. A disabled the world and the victim of life-long discrimination as a Catholic, Pope (1688-1744) is an apt expose for today’s inclusionary lifestyle, however alien and lointain his bewigged era would likely appear. This programme, merging dramatised scenes and of vital importance discussion, even makes a benefits of Pope as a feminist and animal rights advocate. A new darker side is merely hinted at.
Pope was celebrated or feared for his great intellect: “a huge brain”, in the words of your boyfriend’s biographer Dr Felicity Rosslyn, and a former child prodigy comparable to Mozart. Given that a few of religion barred him by way of official posts which the genius merited, the youngsters Pope had few career options. After translating The Iliad into rhyming couplets, he became his own founder, a masterstroke that netted him a fortune when the composition became a bestseller.
Together with and the The Odyssey , it enabled him / her to create a miniature Palladian personal at Twickenham, complete with their famous grotto. It became one particular magnet for celebrities and after that wits; for the sociable, clubbable Pope, “it’s people being with people that generates culture, ” in Hensher’s words.
Played by means of Simon Callow in a squashy velvet cap and walking robe covering a hunchback, Pope is a gentle weight rather than the master of detrimental invective. There’s no reference to the coded homophobia of the length of his attack on Lord Hervey (“this bug with gilded wings / This colored child of dirt that may stinks and stings”), actuality that Hensher does chortle: “Oh, there’s some vile content in Pope. ”
There’s a suitable deliciously prickly exchange complete with Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (Harriet Walter), who ideal gardening advice. Shubham Saraf wafts around as fierce fan Lord Byron, i really enjoy seeing wearing a waist-length necklace placed under his long coat, to Jeff Rawle is Medical professional Johnson in a huge hair comb. “A little learning is really dangerous thing, ” cautioned Pope, but this light weight sip at the Pierian new season is pretty refreshing.
★★★★☆
On BBC4 from August 10 at 8. 10pm
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