<P> An Essay on Criticism is one of the first major poems written by the English writer Alexander Pope ( 1688 -- 1744 ) . It is the source of the famous quotations `` To err is human , to forgive divine , '' `` A little learning is a dang'rous thing '' ( frequently misquoted as `` A little knowledge is a dang'rous thing '' ) , and `` Fools rush in where angels fear to tread . '' It first appeared in 1711 after having been written in 1709 , and it is clear from Pope 's correspondence that many of the poem 's ideas had existed in prose form since at least 1706 . Composed in heroic couplets ( pairs of adjacent rhyming lines of iambic pentameter ) and written in the Horatian mode of satire , it is a verse essay primarily concerned with how writers and critics behave in the new literary commerce of Pope 's contemporary age . The poem covers a range of good criticism and advice , and represents many of the chief literary ideals of Pope 's age . </P>
<P> An Essay on Criticism is one of the first major poems written by the English writer Alexander Pope ( 1688 -- 1744 ) . It is the source of the famous quotations `` To err is human , to forgive divine , '' `` A little learning is a dang'rous thing '' ( frequently misquoted as `` A little knowledge is a dang'rous thing '' ) , and `` Fools rush in where angels fear to tread . '' It first appeared in 1711 after having been written in 1709 , and it is clear from Pope 's correspondence that many of the poem 's ideas had existed in prose form since at least 1706 . Composed in heroic couplets ( pairs of adjacent rhyming lines of iambic pentameter ) and written in the Horatian mode of satire , it is a verse essay primarily concerned with how writers and critics behave in the new literary commerce of Pope 's contemporary age . The poem covers a range of good criticism and advice , and represents many of the chief literary ideals of Pope 's age . </P>
who said a little learning is a dangerous thing
who said a little learning is a dangerous thing
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope