“There was one way left of excelling: for though we had several great poets, we never had any one great poet that was correct; and he desired me to make that my study and aim.”

The counsel Pope credited with steering him toward correctness rather than mere grandeur · Advice to the young Pope, as reported in Spence's Anecdotes

• Criticism
• Excellence
• Poetry

“They ought to be smooth, clear, tender, and passionate. The thoughts may be bold, more gay, and more elevated than in pastoral.”

His standard for the love elegy, as against the simpler pastoral · Preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, 1692

• Love
• Poetry
• Style

“To instruct those who are not critics, at the same time I write myself, is like selling arms to an enemy in time of war.”

A modest doubt about teaching the rules while still practising the art · Preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, 1692

• Criticism
• Humility
• Writing