Selected Poetry

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 1998 - 226 pages
Though critical opinion on Alexander Pope has frequently been divided, he is now regarded as the most important poet of the early eighteenth century. An invalid from infancy, he devoted his energies towards literature and achieved remarkable success with his first published work at the age of twenty-one. A succession of brilliant poems followed, including An Essay on Criticism (1711), Windsor Forest (1715), and his masterpiece, The Rape of the Lock. A second period of great poetry was begun in 1728 with the appearance of the first Dunciad. All these works--which exhibit Pope's astonishing human insight, his wide sympathies, and powers of social observation (displayed to greatest effect in his talent for satire)--are included in this selection of his poetry. It has been compiled by the distinguished Pope scholar and editor Pat Rodgers, who also provides an indispensable introduction that offers a new interpretation of Pope's poetry, and the philosophical ideas behind it.

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Contents

Windsor Forest
20
The Rape of the Lock
32
Epistle to Miss Blount on her Leaving the Town after
54
Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady
65
An Epistle to Allen Lord Bathurst
74
The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace Imitated
88
An Epistle to a Lady
106
Dialogue I
114
Dialogue II
120
Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog
128
Notes
175
Further Reading
225
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About the author (1998)

Satirical poet Alexander Pope was born in London on May 21, 1688. He was educated by private tutors. Many consider Pope to be the greatest poet of his time, and he also wrote commentaries and translations, he is best known for such poems as The Rape of the Lock and The Duncaid. Pope was the first English poet to make a substantial amount of money from his writing. Pope died on May 30, 1744.

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