In the following excerpt, Deutsch describes Pope's poetic corpus within the context of the emerging book trade and role of professional writer, relating how the ubiquitous image of the poet marks his poetry as uniquely his own.

In the following essay, Rumbold investigates post-Restoration cultural attitudes about women and gender in light of Pope's religious and political sympathies as well as his physical infirmities, suggesting implications for both his career and poetry.

In the following essay, Brown reveals inconsistencies in the rhetorical devices used in Epistles to Several Persons to address questions of morality, gender, and pastoral aesthetics, elucidating the conflicted status of Pope's ethics in the face of emerging capitalism.

In the following essay, Pollak outlines differences between Pope and Swift in their formal responses to eighteenth-century sexual ideology, highlighting the emergence of modern cultural attitudes about gender.

In the following essay, Nuttall attributes the dynamic elements of Pope's literary style to his use of the poetic techniques of Virgil as evidenced by his youthful translations of Homer's Odyssey.

In the following essay, Wheeler addresses the autobiographical aspects and personal tone of The Temple of Fame, speculating on the nature of Pope's attitude toward literary fame.

In the following essay, Blocksidge provides an overview of Pope's life and career, highlighting the personalities whom he targeted—and who targeted him—as the objects of satirical verse.

In the following essay, Knellwolf investigates the myth of artistic origins in Windsor-Forest in relation to contemporary conventional thought on femininity and aesthetics, highlighting the fundamental value of violent themes in art.

Below, Edwards provides an overview of twentieth century critical reaction to Pope's works.

In the following essay, Thomas demonstrates how a variety of eighteenth-century women responded to Pope's poetry in terms of cultural issues surrounding their ability to create literary art, focusing on the significance of the natural settings of Twickenham as a symbol of literary creativity for both Pope and his female audience.

In the following excerpt, Damrosch demonstrates the rhetorical nature of Pope's literary achievement by comparing the aims of his poetry with those of earlier and later poets as well as with strategies of contemporary writers in other genres, particularly novels.

In the following essay, Morris discusses Pope's attitudes toward the literary past, particularly his “veneration” of Dryden's poetry, in terms of both the classical theory of mimesis and contemporary mercantile doctrines of trade.

Edwards was an American educator who has written extensively on poetry and politics. In the following essay, originally published in his This Dark Estate: A Reading of Pope (1963), he discusses problems in reasoning in An Essay on Man, concluding that "no one could deny that the poem would be better if its argument were more consistently reasoned …[but its poetic failure is the curious measure of its human success."]

In the essay below, Atkins offers a deconstructionist reading of Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, focusing on the relation of the self to the other.

In the essay below, Butt examines the inspiration behind Pope's poetry, including "the inspirations drawn from fancy, morality, and books."

In the essay below, Rogers provides a publishing history of the various editions of The Dunciad, stating that they show Pope was "a brilliant poet and acute businessman, sensitive to the follies of the world and highly current with contemporary printing and bookselling practice."

In the essay below, Cutting-Gray and Swearingen reinterpret An Essay on Man, stating that the poem anticipates modern ideas about human nature.

In the following essay, Rosslyn scrutinizes the evolution of the cultural significance of the term “good Humour,” tracing changes from Pope's era through the end of the eighteenth century.

In the following essay, Spacks elucidates the function of the “ruling passion” theory in the Epistles to Several Persons by positing it as a corollary of fictional reality.

Rogers is a prominent literary historian specializing in eighteenth-century studies and a recognized authority on Pope. In the following essay, which originally appeared in his An Introduction to Pope (1976), Rogers describes the principal features of Pope's poetic style and technique, emphasizing his virtuosity with the heroic couplet.

Many scholars consider Stephen the most important literary critic of the Victorian Age after Matthew Arnold. In the following excerpt, Stephen judges the moralistic quality of Pope's verse.

Dennis was a minor eighteenth-century writer who is generally esteemed for his literary criticism. However, his several unusually abusive attacks on the character and writings of Pope have largely diminished his posthumous status in the field. In the following excerpt, taken from Dennis's first pamphlet attack on Pope, Reflections Critical and Satyrical, Upon a Late Rhapsody, Call'd, An Essay Upon Criticism (1711), he lambasts Pope for what he considers the immoral, imprecise, and insipid tho...

Leavis was an influential contemporary English critic. In the following excerpt, he suggest paths toward a more judicious, comprehensive assessment of Pope's accomplishment than was generally accorded it during the nineteenth century.

Saintsbury has been called the most influential literary historian and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His studies of French literature have established him as a leading authority on such writers as Guy de Maupassant and Honoré de Balzac. In the following excerpt, Saintsbury praises the superior phrasing and wit in Pope's verse, despite the many faults he perceives in the poet's work.

An English poet and dramatist, Byron is considered one of the most important versifiers of the nineteenth century. In the following excerpt from a letter which refutes the points made in W. L. Bowles 's lukewarm introduction to an 1806 edition of Pope's works, Byron acclaims Pope as one of the most prominent and talented figures in English literary history.

Lowell was a celebrated American poet and essayist, and an editor of two leading journals, The Atlantic Monthly and the North American Review. In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1871, Lowell favorably evaluates Pope's verse.

An English essayist, Hazlitt was one of the most important critics of the Romantic age. In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1818, he discusses Pope's verse as an incomparably refined body of work which must, nevertheless, be placed outside the English tradition of "natural" verse established by Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Milton.

In the following essay, Aubrey suggests that Pope's landscaping at Twickenham reflects an overarching principle that informs his poetic oeuvre, namely, the traditional literary theory that ranks genres of poetry.

In the following essay, Stephanson considers Pope's identification with the female voices of Eloisa to Abelard, “On the statue of Cleopatra,” and Sapho to Phaon as an artistic strategy designed to represent his insecurities about women and his own sexuality.

Sitwell was a twentieth-century English poet who, extremely cognizant of the value of sound and rhythmic structure in poetry, experimented widely in these areas in her verse. In the following excerpt from her biography of Pope, she examines several passages from Pope's works to demonstrate various aspects of the poet's technical skill.

In the following essay, Brown plumbs the depth of Pope's instinct for self-fashioning in his letter writing, explaining the role of the poet's concept of fiction in his approach to publishing his assorted collections of letters during his lifetime.

Auden was an English poet and critic who belonged to the generation of British writers strongly influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud; he considered social and psychological commentary important functions of literary criticism. In the following excerpt, Auden offers a general appraisal of Pope's verse.

Although Arnold was a poet and a commentator on the social and moral life in England, he was essentially an apologist for literary criticism. In the following summary, recognized as the quintessential nineteenth-century view of Pope, he discusses the poet and his literary predecessor, John Dryden, as writers of classic English prose, not poetry.