President Kimball Vs. the World, Part Four: Alexander Pope and the Vice Monster

 

For Part One, Part Two, Part Three, or Part Five, click the appropriate link. And on we go.

A Poetry Break

President Kimball’s talk, Voices of the Past, of thePresent, of the Future rails hard against the worldly voices of the day that were also getting into the different Christian church denominations in different respects.

He felt the need, as prophets often do, to give a warning voice when the world starts to go in a direction that will lead to a lot of suffering and misery on the part of those who are seeking guidance.

He then quoted a piece of a poem by Alexander Pope – one that would prove to be very popular a quote in other talks of the time:

 

The Quote

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

 

This quote comes from Alexander Pope, my sixth cousin nine times removed. His “Essay on Man”, an epic poem of iambic pentameter, is the same kind of poetry that Shakespeare wrote his plays in. Without all the bawdy humor. None whatsoever. A very earnest poem.

There’s a lot of words in this poem and even this quote that aren’t all that easy to figure out, so let’s analyze it a little.

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,”

• "Vice" refers to immoral or wicked behavior.
• "Monster" creates a vivid metaphor — vice is something horrifying.
• "Frightful mien" means a terrifying appearance or demeanor.

Pope begins by personifying vice as something grotesque and fearsome — it should instinctively repel us.

“As to be hated needs but to be seen;”

• This line suggests that vice is so ugly or evil that merely witnessing it should provoke a sense of repulsion and rejection.

“Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,”

• If we see vice too often — become overexposed to it, that is — it starts to lose its shock value.
• "Familiar with her face" points to how repeated exposure breeds desensitization.

There's a warning here about the erosion of moral sensitivity through repetition.

“We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

• First, we endure vice — we tolerate it.
• Then we pity it — we rationalize or sympathize with it.
• Finally, we embrace it — we adopt it ourselves, even though it used to be something horrible to us. We no longer feel any of that.

This quote warns us of the human tendency  of the moral slide — how what once horrified us becomes acceptable, even something we participate in.

This concept remains deeply relevant in modern times — in media, politics, and personal ethics — where constant exposure to violence, injustice, or vulgarity can lead people to shrug, excuse, or even support what they would have once condemned.

Yet, at the same time, we must be careful not to throw that ol’ baby out with the bathwater – to conflate the person with the behavior. People don’t become gay by hanging out with gay people now and then. People don’t commit suicide by talking about suicide. We are able to choose our path, at least in the early stages.

The belief in Christian society used to be never to acknowledge the darkness of the world, lest you fall into it yourself. Granted, this can happen if we’re not aware it can. Our overall focus is important. But study and experience also teach that we shouldn’t turn away from others caught in negative patterns they might not be able to break out of themselves.

However we decide to incorporate that little piece of wisdom, that’s important to remember. People are not always the same as their behavior. Only God can judge ultimately.

 

Alexander Pope and “Essay on Man”

There’s lots more in the Essay on Man that just that one piece of wisdom. Some of my favorite nuggets include his description of life itself in Book One –

“…life can little more supply than just to look about us and to die…”

Man, do I feel that one! The older I get, the more I feel it.

Pope talks of the question as to why humans sometime seem so weak, and what does this say about God, since He’s the one who made us. To this objection, he says:

“Respecting man (humankind), whatever wrong we call,

May, must be right, as relative to all.

In human works, though labour’d on with pain,

A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain…”

I’m pretty sure anyone who’s ever embarked on a workout program and plateaued for a long time can understand THAT feeling. He goes on:

“In God’s, one single can its end produce;

Yet serves to second too some other use.”

God has capabilities so far beyond us that we can feel small and inadequate in comparison. What takes us a thousand steps and working and slaving, He can produce in a moment, and not only fix the one problem, but other problems we aren’t even aware of. I’ve seen that several times in my life.

“So man, who here seems principal alone,

Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,

Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal;

‘Tis but a part we see, and not a whole.”

Pope asks us to consider if maybe the life we’re seeing isn’t all there is.

This idea corroborates with the story of Elisha the prophet in the Bible. As told by J. Annette Dennis in her article in the August 2025 Liahona Magazine, They That Be With Us:

“… The king of Syria wanted to capture Elisha and sent armies to surround the city where he lived.

When Elisha’s young servant saw them, he was afraid and asked Elisha what they were going to do.

Elisha’s response was “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them”.

The servant may have wondered how this could have been possible because he could see that they were surrounded by the enemy.

But then Elisha prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of this young man, and he saw that “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha”.

Wherever you may be in the world, always remember that those who are with us and helping us and cheering us on are more than those who may be against us, no matter what the appearances may be.

As we choose to stay securely connected to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ through our covenants with Them, we can be assured of that fact. And those who will be with us are more powerful than those who may be against us. I testify of that!”

 

That’s just one or two nuggets other than the vice nugget in the Essay on Man. There’s four whole epistles (a long, long letter of poetry) full of these same wisdom nuggets. One, two, three and four. Give them a read sometime.