Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man is an attempt to vindicate, as Milton had attempted to justify, the ways of God to man. Both attempt to explain God to man, but come up with different conclusions. Milton states that man can overcome God's design through faith and decency. In contrast, Pope remarks that man must accept what life gives him without trying to change his fate. Milton seeks to "justify the ways of God to men" (Paradise Lost, 1.26) through example. Paradise Lost focuses on the fall of man and the consequences thereof. After the fall ....