Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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.