Alexander Pope Biography and Poems

English Poet Famous for An Essay on Criticism

Aug 29, 2009
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Alexander Pope, English Poet - Michael Dahl, d.1743, Wikimedia Commons

Short biography of Alexander Pope, wrote Ode on Solitude before 12, best known for his satirical poems, also translated Homer and Horace

Alexander Pope was the leading English poet of the early 18th century, famous for his works An Essay on Criticism and The Rape of the Lock. He was a major critic and satirist. In the 1700s, he was so popular that this era was once known as the "Age of Pope."

Short Profile of Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was born on May 21, 1688 into a Roman Catholic family in London. At that time Roman Catholics were not able to live where they wished, practise their religion openly, or attend certain schools. As a result, Pope's formal education was often interrupted and of poor quality, but despite this, he learned by teaching himself Latin, Greek, French and Italian.

At a young age, he was struck by a spine infection that left him hunchbacked. His growth was permanently stunted, affecting his health. His health condition made him concentrate on his studies, and in particular, on writing poetry. He was an acquaintance of William Congreve.

An Essay on Criticism and The Rape of the Lock

Pope began to write as a teenager. His remarkable poem An Essay on Criticism was published just before he turned 23 years old. It includes the famous line "A little learning is a dangerous thing." Some of the critics and writers that it made fun of responded by cruelly attacking his of his physical deformities by calling him a "hunchbacked toad."

His mock epic poem The Rape of the Lock was published the following year. It tells of a suitor who steals a lock of hair from a young woman. Pope wrote it to mock the habits of fashionable people.

Later Poetry of Alexander Pope

Between 1715 and 1726 Pope translated classical texts such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Imitation of Horace. He then went on to write many more satirical poems, including The Dunciad, which ridicules bad writers, scientist and critics.

Pope's great talent was for satire, however, he achieved mastery over classical poetic forms, showing skills in Pastorals, his earlier work. He wrote lyric and elegiac poetry and published translations of the works of Homer and Horace. He died on May 30, 1744, aged 56.

A quote from Pope's An Essay on Criticism: "The vulgar thus through imitation err; / As oft the learn'd by being singular; / So much they scorn the crowd, that if the throng / By chance go right, they purposely go wrong."