In An Essay on Criticism, Pope defines Wit thus:
"True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd."
Elaborating this definition Pope wrote in a letter to a friend that "true wit is a justness of thought and a felicity of expression, or propriety." False wit on the other hand, is what "concept is to nature, or paint is to beauty." Referring to false wit, Pope writes:
"Some to conceit alone their taste confine,
And glittering thoughts struck out at every line".
Wit is intimately bound up with the extra sensory experience, with the creative freedom of imagination and invention:
"Fools admire, but men of sense approve."
Men of sense put to the test the truths expressed. At the same time People wants "the generous pleasure to be charmed with wit". Thus wit is intimately bound up with the extra sensory experience with the creative freedom of imagination and invention. The ideal critic is "blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined."
Wit is the spark or fire of poetic genius. This spark invigorates the composition and gives life and vitality to it. Then the poem involves fire, invention and imagination. The author needs sense and judgement because they provide the stuff; but it is wit which makes the work truly a work of art. In other words, it is wit which makes a poem poetical. However, wit needs proper training. This training involves a study of the rules and a careful study of "each Ancient's proper character". Thus wit is the power to find or evolve a form of expression that can embody effectively what it conceives. It charms us as it makes us wiser.
