Pope, Alexander

(1688-1744)

   He was born in London, the son of a Roman Catholic linen merchant, and later lived at Binfield in Windsor Forest, Berkshire. As a Catholic, he was barred from a university education in England, so he was largely self-taught. He suffered from curvature of the spine, caused possibly by tuberculosis. He died at Twickenham, South-West London and was buried near his father and mother. He is commemorated in the Poets' Corner Window of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. Pope-who wrote from an early age-is one the great Augustan poets (1667-1780). His "Pastorals" written when he was 16 was published in Jacob Tonson's Miscellany in 1709. He was a fierce satirist, particularly of other poets. Some of his major publications: Essay on Criticism, 1711. The Rape of the Lock, 1712. Ode for Music on St. Cecelia's Day, 1713. Windsor Forest, 1713. The Iliad of Homer, 1715. The Odyssey of Homer, 1725-1726. The Dunciad, 1743. Some of his poems: "An Essay on Man," "The Challenge: A Court Ballad," "A Farewell to London in the Year 1715," "The Garden," "Sandys's Ghost."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Five Hundred Years of English Poetry: Chaucer to Arnold. Barbara LloydEvans, ed. Peter Bedrick Books, 1989. Poetical Works of Alexander Pope. Herbert Davis, ed. Oxford University Press, 1978; repr. 1990. Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984. The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry. Vol. I: Spenser to Crabbe. John Wain, ed. Oxford University Press, 1990. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).