ABSTRACT
A Poet's Prose comes as a surprise that Pope have troubled to write prose at all. There are some interesting critical pronouncements, the varied range of Scri-blerian and satiric offerings, and a small contribution to drama. Little account is generally taken of this side of Pope's career. The celebrated Scriblerus Club grew up around 1713, with a membership consisting of Pope, Swift, John Gay, Dr Arbuthnot and Thomas Parnell: the chief minister, Robert Harley, was allowed a sort of honorific attachment. Pope and Arbuthnot joyfully exploit bawdy potential of this event. And there are vestiges of Scriblerian drama. Major works of Scriblerus proper came out some years later. Pope put out Peri Bathous: or, The Art of Sinking in Poetry in a volume of miscellanies in March 1728, maybe as a preparatory step towards The Dunciad. The other principal outcome of the club's project were The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, finally published by Pope amongst his collected prose in 1741.
