Dunciad Minor

This mock-epic satire in the eighteenth-century manner is a comic burlesque upon the pretentious pedantry of literary criticism during much of A.D. Hope's lifetime. It was provoked by a contemporary critic's attack on the poetry of Alexander Pope. In his fable, Hope shows the Goddess Dullness urging the critic on to his attack, inspiring him by the promise of elevation to the Throne of Dunces.

Many leading critics make an appearance, among them David Daiches, F.R. Leavis and Northrop Frye. This polished, entertaining poem attacks the barren absurdities of Leavisite criticism under which literature is buried ever deeper, until finally 'one vast snore seals the eclipse of mind'.