VIII.—The Riming System of Alexander Pope

Extract

An exhaustive study of the riming system of Alexander Pope was suggested by the results of a partial investigation given in the introduction to Professsor Edwin Abbott's ‘Concordance’ to the works of that poet. I first based my study of the rimes upon this ‘Concordance,’ but, finding it to be neither reliable nor exhaustive, I was obliged to dispense with this aid and examine the rimes themselves at first hand. This investigation includes all of the poems, with the exception of a short unfinished piece, called “1740,” and a stanza of five lines written on “Beaufort House Gate at Chiswick,” omitted because of incomplete rimes. The examination of the rimes follows the lines of the study of Rose's ‘Orlando Furioso’ made by Professor Albert S. Cook in Modern Language Notes for November, 1883.