Literary Criticism as Personal Attack
One of the lasting effects of The Dunciad was that it legitimized and sanctioned the practice of criticizing an author’s works by criticizing the author himself. Although couched in allegory, allusion, and symbolism that would make it very difficult for most modern readers to identify the object of his scorn, and even initially published anonymously, The Dunciad made clear to 17th-century readers the true targets of Pope’s scorn and by extension his own secret identity as the author. In the fourth book, added to the first three in an edition published 14 years later, Pope chose new targets to ensure that his attacks were still landing in the right place.
A Critique of Commercialism
The Dunciad—especially the final edition with the fourth book added—may be criticized as almost toppling into defamation at some points, but it is also, as a whole, one of the first organically organized critiques of the commodification of the arts. In the first edition, Pope draws an allegory that implicates collusion between a corrupt crown and government with the leadership of British trade to lower the standards of quality of literature. With the addition of the fourth book, this critique of the influence of commercialism in shaping the tastes and desires of an ever-growing audience expands to cover a growing dullness of art in science, education and religion. Pope's argument is that, in trying to appeal to the emerging mass market, artistry had been sacrificed for greater sales.
Pulling from the Canon in Writing
The 1400s through the 1700s marked the beginning of the formation of an English literary canon. These early years were often marked by a tradition of English writers studying, borrowing from, and translating classical works from Italy, Greece, France, and other nations. While Pope also borrowed from the canon by utilizing the epic form in his poetry, he innovated the form by incorporating complex satire into his own epic. He cautions against the pure copying of the canon, noting that dunces often do this. Pope writes in Book I:
A Gothic library! of Greece and Rome
Well purged, and worthy Settle, Banks, and Broome.But, high above, more solid Learning shone,
The classics of an age that heard of none;
There Caxton slept, with Wynkyn at his side
One clasp’d in wood, and one in strong cow-hide;
He notes that in the dunce's library the actual works of the classical canon have been removed and replaced by poor versions, imitations, and translations by Settle, Banks, and Broome. He also notes how Caxton and Wynkyn, the first printers to print in English who translated classical works, are left abandoned. Rather than honoring their original work, the dunce's library leaves them forgotten. Pope also shows that one must be careful not to romanticize all of the writers within the classical canon. Bavius appears in the text as the figure who dulls the souls of the poets before they go to Earth. Bavius was a notoriously bad Roman poet known for savagely attacking better writers than himself with harsh critiques. Though he is part of the history the English wanted to emulate, he is a hero among the dunces, a careful warning from Pope reminding the reader to have a critical eye.
Fate, Time, and Prophecy
Fate is a central question in The Dunciad from the very start, when the speaker calls on Fate, Jove, and Dulness to guide his pen. Prophecy plays out over and over again, for example when Cibber is guided by or meets with seers and prophets like Sybil, or when he is shown visions of a future he will help bring about in Book III. In Book I, readers are told that Fate "is given" to Dulness, and this poses a central question: does the reader believe that the outcomes presented in Book IV of the text are truly so inevitable and determined by fate? Pope is writing a satire, which could suggest this is not the case. The way time works in the Dunciad complicates this, however. Books I – III are written in the present tense, but they recount Cibber's visions of the future. In Book IV, also written in the present tense, we are presented with descriptions that purport to be of present-day England. This suggests that this chaotic prophecy has already descended and all that has been read previously has been related to the reader when it is already too late to change it. Imagery, too, reinforces this. The text is full of images of wind and gusts, like the winds of fate, and repeated circular images and motions in the text hint that there may be one outcome that the reader returns to over and over again, despite any resistance.
Religion
While the book crafts a religious attitude toward Dulness, it also incorporates major imagery and allusions both from the religion and mythologies of the Greeks and Romans, as well as Christianity. The poem frequently calls on the interference of Jove, the most powerful of all the Greek and Roman gods, and other major and minor gods like Venus, Cloacina, and Apollo. Dulness, however, is often compared to the Virgin Mary, with her blue veil and King Cibber seated on her lap like Christ. The church is often a target for Dulness alongside the theater and the courts, as well. This link is also clear because when he begins to doubt his ability to serve Dulness as a poet, Cibber contemplates joining the church and makes an altar, a religious sacrifice to Dulness. It is important to note, however, that Religion is chained alongside other virtues, arts, and forces of order in Book IV. Pope seems to suggest that the true nature of religion and morality has been corrupted by Dulness. The depictions of the Goddess then hint that she is in a disguise of sorts, using religion as a veil for her true immoral activity.
Sound and Its Relationship to Chaos
Pope often uses sound to depict the effect Dulness can have on writing. This is an interesting choice given the print medium Pope mainly addresses, but it gives clarity to the chaos which he strives to depict. He often writes about the sounds of loud crowds and the "empty sounds" devoid of meaning that chaos creates.
Keen hollow winds howl through the bleak recess,
Emblem of music caused by emptiness; (I, 29)
And later:
Sound, sound ye viols, be the cat-call dumb! (I, 302)
Sound creates a shield for Dulness, protecting her divinity by disguising the emptiness of her words:
All classic learning lost on classic ground;
And last turned air, the echo of a sound! (IV, 321-322)
Sound is also meant to distract and disturb the reading experience, pulling Pope's audience into the sensorial world of chaos. The reader is forced to understand the world that Pope is critiquing by struggling through the repetitive and chaotic sound of the text, which he directly writes about as well:
Chromatic tortures soon shall drive them hence,
Break all their nerves, and fritter all their sense:
One trill shall harmonise joy, grief, and rage,
Wake the dull church, and lull the ranting stage;
To the same notes thy sons shall hum, or snore,
And all thy yawning daughters cry, Encore! (IV, 55)
Science and Logic
Science and Logic are vital, according to Pope, as one of the deterrents for Dulness and Chaos. Not only are the Sciences and Mathematics imprisoned as Chaos takes over, but Dulness states in Book IV that while some meaningless scientific work like small inquiries into butterflies is harmless, deeper explorations of the universe should be avoided. It is clear, however, that some of Pope's satire is at work when his speaker uses scientific language that shows that perhaps he, too, has begun to explore this realm of logic:
The mind in metaphysics at a loss,
May wander in a wilderness of moss;
The head that turns at super-lunar things,
Poised with a tail, may steer on Wilkins’ wings. (IV, 450)
In Book III, Settle tells Cibber that Dulness once lost ground to Science, but that she has slowly been earning it back. This danger is vital to Pope's argument, showing that while Dulness may claim victory, Science still has the potential to win back some ground, which falls in line with the revenge History promises in Book IV, having seen Dulness falter before.
