He might again conceivably have written an interesting work, though it would hardly have been a poem--if he had versified the arguments by which a coherent theory might be supported.

Unluckily, he was quite unqualified for either undertaking, and, at the same time, he more or less aimed at both.

Anything like sustained reasoning was beyond his reach.

Pope felt and thought by shocks and electric flashes.

He could only obtain a continuous effect when working clearly upon lines already provided for him, or simulate one by fitting together fragments struck out at intervals.