Defender of the
classical tradition, Pope was responsible for most classical translations inflicted upon schoolchildren in the 19th century. His basic rule of art was to "follow
nature," which he believed is a process.
Rules, to Pope, are "nature methodized." The poet is able to transgress these rules, if the author cannot accomplish more than he intends.
He thinks that critics should have honesty, modesty, and courage (e.g. Aristotle, Horace, Dionysus of Hellicarnassus, Petronius Arbiter, Quintilian, Longinus, Erasmus, Vida, and Boileau). If there is one critic of any field who is like that today, I'll eat a bug.
Pope on pi, from Dunciad, 1743:
Mad Mathesis alone was unconfined,
Too mad for mere material chains to bind,-
Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare,
Now, running round the circle, finds it square.