ABSTRACT

The Poems of Alexander Pope is a multi-volume edition of the poetry of Alexander Pope (1688–1744) resulting from a thorough reappraisal of his work, from composition through to reception. The annotations and headnotes are full and informative, and the layout is designed to enable the reader to navigate easily between the poems, the record of variants and the editorial commentary. The poems are presented in chronological order of publication, with original capitalisation, italicisation, punctuation and spelling preserved. A record of variants to each poem illustrates the changes Pope made in subsequent editions, and full editorial annotation sets the poems in appropriate literary, historical and cultural contexts.

This volume contains the poetry that appeared between 1709 and 1714, including the Pastorals and the ‘Rape of the Locke’. Much of the publication history of these poems shows Pope collaborating with the major writers and publishers of his time, as might be expected of a writer whose preparation for a literary career was so meticulous. But Pope was also beginning to establish himself on his own account, publishing (at first anonymously) a substantial statement of ideas, An Essay on Criticism. Another separate pamphlet, Windsor-Forest, constituted his distinctive contribution to the heavy freight of ‘Peace’ poems prompted by the Treaty of Utrecht. In all, the poems presented in this volume reveal an engagement with the literary and publishing industry that is at once amenable and independent.

chapter 1|59 pages

January and May

(1709)

chapter 2|43 pages

The Episode of Sarpedon

(1709)

chapter 3|81 pages

Pastorals

(1709)

chapter 4|109 pages

An Essay on Criticism

(1711)

chapter 5|8 pages

Lines from The Critical Specimen

(1711)

chapter 6|28 pages

Sapho to Phaon

(1712)

chapter 7|24 pages

Messiah

(1712)

chapter 8|71 pages

The First Book of Statius his Thebais

(1712)

chapter 9|15 pages

The Fable of Vertumnus and Pomona

(1712)

chapter 10|12 pages

To a Young Lady, with the Works of Voiture

(1712)

chapter 11|12 pages

On Silence

(1712)

chapter 12|6 pages

To the Author of a Poem, intitled, Successio

(1712)

chapter 14|44 pages

The Rape of the Locke

(1712)

chapter 15|7 pages

On a Fan of the Author’s Design

(1712)

chapter 16|65 pages

Windsor-Forest

(1713)

chapter 17|17 pages

Prologue to Cato

(1713)

chapter 18|23 pages

Ode for Musick

(1713)

chapter 19|9 pages

The Gardens of Alcinous

(1713)

chapter 20|6 pages

Epigram upon Two or Three

(1713)

chapter 21|37 pages

The Wife of Bath Her Prologue

(1713)

chapter 22|8 pages

Prologue, Design’d for Mr. D —— ’s Last Play

(1713)

chapter 23|22 pages

The Arrival of Ulysses in Ithaca

(1713)