ABSTRACT
When Queen Anne died on 1 August 1714, Alexander Pope was not only ‘wholly employed upon Homer’, he was dreaming in epic style. This chapter revisits Pope’s Homer project and provides an overarching account of the project’s inauguration under the reign of Queen Anne and its emergence and completion in the years immediately following her death. Having first considered some potential links between Pope and Queen Anne, and the poet’s early interest in Homer together with key antecedents and models, the chapter then moves on to cover the project’s financial arrangements and material history as it matures and draws near completion. Some printing idiosyncrasies are also considered. Intimations of Pope’s longing for Homeric immortality are seeded throughout his early works. David Foxon and James McLaverty have covered Pope’s dealings with the book trade with unsurpassed expertise.
