There was a time when scholars, and educated people in general, tended to think of the first half of the eighteenth century as the "Age of Pope." Now the period is more commonly termed the Augustan Age or the Neoclassical period. Yet the earlier...

There was a time when scholars, and educated people in general, tended to think of the first half of the eighteenth century as the "Age of Pope." Now the period is more commonly termed the "Augustan Age" or the "Neoclassical Period." Yet the earlier...

Alexander Pope's prose, even when most intimate, bears directly or indirectly upon his poetry. Accordingly, his essays range from short pieces such as the defense of his pastoral poetry to the extended critical discussions that appear in his...

Alexander Pope's biographer Maynard Mack has estimated that the poet's personal library contained between 650 and 750 volumes. Such a collection would have been similar to those of other contemporary men of letters, such as Jonathan Swift, although far...

The English poet and satirist Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was the greatest poet and verse satirist of the Augustan period. No other poet in the history of English literature has handled the heroic couplet with comparable flexibility and brilliance....