Pope, Alexander 1688-1744
English poet

He was born in London, the son of a linen merchant. The family moved to Binfield in Windsor Forest when Pope was an infant. He was largely self-taught, which left gaps in his knowledge of literature. At the age of three he suffered his first serious illness and at 12 he was crippled by a tubercular infection of the spine which accounted for his stunted growth (4ft 6in/1.37m). He began writing at an early age. 'Ode to Solitude' was completed in the same year as his illness (1700). Reading and writing feverishly, he got to know members of the literati - William Walsh, Henry Cromwell and Sir William Trumball - who acted as mentors, critics and encouragers. He wrote The Pastorals while a teenager and they were eventually published by Jacob Tonson in 1709. Metrically adept, they are remembered for his mastery of technique rather than their poetry. He produced his seminal work An Essay on Criticism (1711), whose couplets caused a stir. The Rape of the Lock (1712) confirmed him as a poetic force. A mock epic, it can be enjoyed throughout as a true epic diminished to contemporary proportions. With Windsor Forest (1713) his popularity was further enhanced and he became a favourite in London, where he was now living. Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift were among his acquaintances and he became a member of the Scriblerus Club. His persistent ambition was to translate Homer, and the first instalment of the Iliad appeared in 1715; when completed in 1720 its genius was immediately acknowledged though it bore flimsy resemblance to the original. During this time he also issued his Works (1717), a mix of odes, epistles, elegies and a translation of Chaucer's The House of Fame. He also met and befriended Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a friendship which foundered after they quarrelled in 1723. Pope contemptuously dismissed her in a few lines in his Imitations of Homer. With the success of the Iliad, Pope was financially secure and was regarded as the senior figure of English letters. He bought a villa in Twickenham and lived there until his death. In 1726 he completed the Odyssey, following the failure of his edition of Shakespeare (1725) which Lewis Theobald (1688-1744) criticized for its slip-shoddiness and poor scholarship. Pope got his revenge in The Dunciad (1728), a mock-heroic satire, published anonymously, whose butt is 'Dulness' in general and, in particular, all the authors whom he wanted to hold up to ridicule. It is not, however, confined to personal animus, and literary vices are likewise exposed and scorned. With Swift, John Gay, Lord Oxford, John Arbuthnot and Henry, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke he arranged the publication of a Miscellany (3 vols, 1727-28). Pope's contributions included An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot (published separately in 1735) and Martinus Scriblerus peri Bathous: or The Art of Sinking in Poetry, a satirical invective that insulted various poetasters. That and The Dunciad prompted a long, tiresome literary feud. In 1733-34 he published his Essay on Man and wrote Moral Essays (1731-35). His last years were engaged in organizing his correspondence for publication but while this marked a new development in English literature he tinkered too much with the originals and their value as social documents was impaired. Since his death his reputation has waxed, waned and waxed again. His technical brilliance has never been in doubt, but he lacked the surface warmth that endears lesser poets to the reading public. Nor was he an attractive figure, either in manner or physique. Much of this may have been due to inconsistent health, but without his abrasive side English satire would be the poorer, for he was the sharpest and most innovative of its practitioners.

Bibliography: M Mack, Alexander Pope, a life (1985)