Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot  

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The "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is a poem written by Alexander Pope and completed in the summer of 1734. Dr. John Arbuthnot was a physician and was known as a man of wit. He was a member of the Martinus Scriblerus Club, together with amongst others Pope, Jonathan Swift and John Gay. He was formerly the physician of Queen Anne.

Analysis

The poem is a conversation (although sometimes printed as a letter) between Pope and Arbuthnot, in which Pope gives his satirical opinion about certain members of 18th century society, for example Edmund Curll, who was a disreputable book seller.

"Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" is probably one of its most famous lines. The common idiom "Damn with faint praise" also originates in this poem.



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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