Essays on Alexander Pope

21 May 1688

30 May 1744

Poet, writer, translator

• The Dunciad
• The Rape of the Lock
• An Essay on Criticism
• His translation of Homer

21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744

Alexander Pope was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, Pope is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including, and for his translation of Homer.

An Essay on Criticism (1711), The Rape of the Lock (1712–14), The Dunciad (1728), An Essay on Man (1733–34)

Pope's poetry was mainly the poetry of the town. He excelled in dealing with artificial Urban manners. His mock-heroic epic. “The Rape of the Lock” describes in graphic details the artificial customs and manners of town-bred men the women. Major themes in the Rape of the Lock are beauty, religion and morality, femininity, pride, love, pursuits, and morality of upper class.

Pope largely wrote his poetry in heroic couplets, which, at the time, was a fairly new poetic form. His metrical skill earned him his fame, and allowed Pope to join a wider circle of authors in London. Pope also liked to write in a satirical manner, writing mock-heroic epics.

Pope was arguably the only great poet of Enlightenment England. He influenced literature through his poetry, identifying, and refining his own positions as a critic and a poet. After Shakespeare, Pope is the second-most quoted author in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, some of his verses having entered common parlance (e.g. "damning with faint praise" or "to err is human; to forgive, divine").

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
“A little Learning is a dangerous Thing.”