ABSTRACT

In this concise introduction to Pope’s life and work, first published in 1975, the poet’s highly successful career as a man of letters is seen against the background of the Augustan age as a whole. Pat Rogers begins by examining the relationship of the eighteenth-century writer to his audience, and discusses the role of style and versification in this. The book covers the whole of Pope’s work and includes not only the translations of Homer and such minor poems as The Temple of Fame, but also the prose, both drama and correspondence. Based on extensive research, this book will provide literature students with a greater appreciation and understanding of Pope’s verse and the ways in which he addressed his eighteenth-century context in his work.

chapter One|8 pages

The writer and his audience

chapter Two|11 pages

The politics of style

chapter Three|15 pages

Soft numbers and good sense

chapter Four|14 pages

Fancy's maze

chapter Five|13 pages

Homer and Shakespeare

chapter Six|19 pages

Maps of humanity

chapter Seven|22 pages

Images of life

chapter Eight|28 pages

The empire of dulness

chapter Nine|19 pages

A poet's Prose

chapter Ten|9 pages

Pope and his age