The Essay on Man-Explanation of Extracts

 Created half to rise, and half to fall;

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.
Reference to the context:

Reference to the Context: These lines are from The Essay on Man (Epistle II of the poem), where Pope discusses human nature and the place of man in the universe. He tries to show that humans are a mixture of greatness and weakness and that their position in the world is full of contradictions.
Explanation In these lines from An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope talks about human beings' mixed and confusing nature. He says that humans are made "half to rise and half to fall," meaning they have both strengths and weaknesses. They can achieve great things but also make big mistakes. Even though humans are called the "great lord of all things" because they rule over other creatures and nature, they are still weak and can be harmed by many things. Pope also points out that humans are the only ones who try to judge what is true, but they often make many errors. In the end, he calls man "the glory, jest, and riddle of the world," which means humans are amazing, sometimes foolish, and very hard to understand. These lines show how humans are full of contradictions and are both wonderful and confusing at the same time.