Poets of the Enlightenment

Alexander Pope was a great English poet of the Enlightenment era. Some people consider him to be the most influential poet of the early eighteenth century. Others consider him a satirist. Whatever his purpose, his works are worth reading. Let's take a look at some of his most famous works.

An Essay on Criticism

In 1711, Alexander Pope published the essay An Essay on Criticism. The essay contains many famous quotations. Among these are:

An Essay on Man

Alexander Pope wrote An Essay on Man between 1733 and 1744. He dedicated the book to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke. The essay opens with the words, "Awake, St John!"

The Rape of the Lock

Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock is a high burlesque poem in the style of mock-heroic narrative. First published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous in 1832, it has remained one of the most frequently cited examples of high burlesque.

The Dunciad

The Dunciad is a mock-heroic narrative poem by Alexander Pope. It was published in three different versions between 1728 and 1743. It celebrates the goddess Dulness, and tells the story of how the chosen agents of the goddess bring decay, imbecility, and tastelessness to Great Britain.

Variorum

The Dunciad, or Variorum of Alexander Pope, is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope. It was published in three different editions between 1728 and 1743. It celebrates the goddess Dulness and describes the progress of the chosen agents who bring imbecility, decay, and tastelessness to Great Britain.

Poetical Miscellanies

Poetical Miscellanies are collections of poems published in various periodicals, such as Jacob Tonson's Poetical Miscellanies and Bernard Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. Of these, three miscellanies are particularly notable: Tonson's Poetical Miscellalia (1709), Lintot's Miscellaneous Miscellanies (1712), and Pope's Poems on Various Occasions (1717). In Tonson's Poetical Miscellany (1709), Pope was the editor, while Lintot's Miscellaneous poems and translations (1712) were Pope's first major published works.

Early poetry

The Early poetry of Alexander Pope is of mixed quality. His style is very formal and his poems are lacking in emotional depth and imaginative sensibility. His verses have very little structural unity, but they have a strong rhetorical quality. They are also lacking in originality.

Translations

Alexander Pope was one of the most important poets of the eighteenth century. He translated a number of classic Greek works into English, including the Iliad. This ambitious project took a number of years and was a difficult task, since Pope did not know the Greek language. Nevertheless, Pope's work was remarkably powerful, and he gained great recognition as a poet in his lifetime.