Who is Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) 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 The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translation of Homer.

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").

Life

Alexander Pope was born in London on 21 May 1688 during the year of the Glorious Revolution. His father (Alexander Pope, 1646–...
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Alexander Pope Poems

  • Epistle To Robert Earl Of Oxford And Earl Mortimer
    Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung,
    Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.
    Oh just beheld and lost! admired and mourn'd!
    With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd! ...
  • Umbra.[85]
    Close to the best known author Umbra sits,
    The constant index to old Button's wits,
    'Who's here?' cries Umbra: 'Only Johnson.'[86]--'Oh!
    Your slave,' and exit; but returns with Rowe: ...
  • The Dunciad: Book The Second
    ARGUMENT.

    The king being proclaimed, the solemnity is graced with public games and sports of various kinds; not instituted by the hero, as by Aeneas in Virgil, but for greater honour by the goddess in person (in like manner as the games Pythia, Isthmia, &c., were anciently said to be ordained by the gods, and as Thetis herself appearing, according to Homer, Odyss. xxiv., proposed the prizes in honour of her son Achilles). Hither flock the poets and critics, attended, as is but just, with their patrons and booksellers. The goddess is first pleased, for her disport, to propose games to the booksellers, and setteth up the phantom of a poet, which they contend to overtake. The races described, with their divers accidents. Next, the game for a poetess. Then follow the exercises for the poets, of tickling, vociferating, diving: The first holds forth the arts and practices of dedicators; the second of disputants and fustian poets; the third of profound, dark, and dirty party-writers. Lastly, for the critics, the goddess proposes (with great propriety) an exercise, not of their parts, but their patience, in hearing the works of two voluminous authors, one in verse, and the other in prose, deliberately read, without sleeping: the various effects of which, with the several degrees and manners of their operation, are here set forth; till the whole number, not of critics only, but of spectators, actors, and all present, fall fast asleep; which naturally and necessarily ends the games.
    ...
  • Prologue, Designed For Mr D'urfey's Last Play
    Grown old in rhyme, 'twere barbarous to discard
    Your persevering, unexhausted bard;
    Damnation follows death in other men,
    But your damn'd poet lives and writes again. ...
  • Epitaph Xiv. On Edmund Duke Of Buckingham, Who Died In The Nineteenth Year Of His Age, 1735
    If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd,
    And every opening virtue blooming round,
    Could save a parent's justest pride from fate,
    Or add one patriot to a sinking state; ...
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Top 10 most used topics by Alexander Pope

Great 66 Long 65 Soul 62 Rise 59 Good 58 Soft 54 Sense 52 Thought 52 Place 51 Mind 49


Alexander Pope Quotes

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Comments about Alexander Pope

Metamoon520: “a man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” – alexander pope, poet
Encyclonomicon: "ye sylphs and sylphids, to your chief give ear! fays, fairies, genii, elves, and dæmons, hear! ye know the spheres and various tasks assign'd by laws eternal to th' aërial kind." —alexander pope, the rape of the lock (1712)
Mulda_nia: those within said alexander pope's ounass noon promo non toyou to fordeal hm and body h&m you h and m ounas coupon sivvi namshi code onas discount onass shreds? science universe of knowledge. a search for it. no human
Saph_alexander: very fascinating. i think legislation is way too slow when it comes to regulating ai which has potential for some real issues in the near future. that pope picture alone shows that ai generated images need to be regulated to avoid mass public disinformation.
Uocofusa: also commemorated: martyr papas of lycaonia (305) + apostle aristobulus of the 70, bishop of britain (1st c.) + hieromartyr alexander, pope of rome (119) + martyrs trophimus and thalus of laodicea (300) + martyr julian of anazarbus (305)
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Poem of the day

Edgar Albert Guest Poem
The Killing Place
 by Edgar Albert Guest

We're hiking along at a two-forty pace
We 're making life seem like a man-killing race,
With our nerves all on edge and our jaws firmly set
We go rushing along; with our brows lined with sweat
And our cheeks pale and drawn every minute we dash,
And the goal that we 're after is merely more cash.

We 're out for the money, the greenbacks and gold,
...

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