In the letter prefixed to the Dunciad, Pope tries to justify his abuse of his enemies by the example of Boileau, whom he appears to have considered as his great prototype.

But Boileau would have been revolted by the brutal images which Pope does not hesitate to introduce; and it is a curious phenomenon that the poet who is pre-eminently the representative of polished society should openly take such pleasure in unmixed filth.
Polish is sometimes very thin.

It has been suggested that Swift, who was with Pope during the composition, may have been directly responsible for some of these brutalities.

At any rate, as I have said, Pope has here been working in the Swift spirit, and this gives, I think, the keynote of his Dunciad.
The geyser comparison is so far misleading that Pope is not in his most spiteful mood.

There is not that infusion of personal venom which appears so strongly in the character of Sporus and similar passages.