[eng] Alexander Pope’s mock-heroic The Dunciad in Four Books (1743) is full of allusions and
references to other works, the Bible and Paradise Lost (1674) by John Milton prominent among
them. Various parallelisms can be found between the main characters of said works and those
from Pope’s piece, the resulting contrast of mixing Milton’s Satan’s characteristics with those
of the main biblical characters being mainstream in the construction of Pope’s discourse. This
essay aims at analyzing the impact that these references have in The Dunciad, both in the
portrayal of the characters and in achieving the main purpose of the work, a critique of different
authors of the time. This paper will pay special attention to how, through these allusions and
through the character of Dulness –a personification–, Colley Cibber is thoroughly debased, as
the main target of the critique, demonstrating Pope’s prowess in satirical criticism.