Pope, Alexander

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English poet and satirist. He established his poetic reputation with the precocious Pastorals (1709) and An Essay on Criticism (1711), which were followed by a parody of the heroic epic form, The Rape of the Lock (1712–14), as well as The Temple of Fame (1715), and ‘Eloisa to Abelard’ (1717). Pope's highly neoclassical translations from the Greek, of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (1715–26) were very successful but his edition of Shakespeare (1725) attracted scholarly ridicule, which led Pope to write a satire on scholarly dullness, The Dunciad (1728). His finest mature works are his Imitations of the Satires of Horace (1733–38) and his personal letters.

Pope was born in London and received a somewhat inconsistent education at various Roman Catholic schools, but after the age of 12, when he had a severe illness which left him crippled, he was practically self-educated. Though never a profound or accurate scholar, he had a good knowledge of Latin and a working acquaintance with Greek. By 1704 he had written a good deal of verse, which attracted the attention of English dramatist William Wycherley, who introduced him to other men of letters. In 1709 his Pastorals, written, according to his own account, at the age of 16, were published in English publisher Jacob Tonson's Miscellany, and two years later the Essay on Criticism, a neat and concise statement of the principles of neoclassicism, appeared and was praised by English writer Joseph Addison. The Rape of the Lock then placed his reputation on a sure foundation. His industry was untiring, and his literary output almost continuous until his death.

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