Alexander Pope

Though he never went into the nuptial bliss, he allegedly was romantically involved with Martha Blount.

He suffered from major health complications ever since he was a child. At the age of twelve, he was inflicted with the Pott’s disease which caused deformation of his body. Furthermore it inhibited his growth at 4ft 6 inches and caused a hunchback.

It was due to the disease that he faced other health complications such as respiratory problems, high fevers, inflamed eyes and abdominal pain.

Alexander Pope was born to Alexander Pope and Edith nee Turner in London, England. His father worked as a linen merchant. He had a Catholic upbringing.

Ironically, young Pope was born at a time when rights of the Catholics to teaching, education, voting and holding public office was banned due to the enactment to the Test Acts which uplifted the status of the Church of England.

As such, he received much of his education at home. It was only in 1698 that he attended Twyford School. Later on, he admitted himself at two Catholic school which operated illegally.

Due to the increasing aggression and rise in the anti-Catholic movement, his family shifted base to a small estate at Popeswood in Binfield, Berkshire, as Catholics were forcefully eradicated 16 kms from the vicinity of London or Westminster.

While at the countryside, he dedicated much of time to reading the works of classical literary figures, such as satirists Horace and Juvenal, poets Homer and Virgil, and authors, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer and John Dryden.

His first ever work titled, ‘Pastorals’ was published in 1709 in the sixth part of Tonson’s Poetical Miscellanies. The work was widely appreciated and guaranteed him much fame and publicity.

It was after the positive reception of his work ‘Pastorals’ that he was inspired to writer further. In 1711, he came up with ‘An Essay on Criticism’. Much like its predecessor, this work too was much appreciated and liked.

Written in a heroic couplet style, which was a developing genre of poetry then, the work was written as a response to whether poetry should written in a style that is natural or follow the predetermined rules of the classical works.

Same year, he made friends with Tory writers John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell and John Arbuthnot. Together with them, he formed the satirical Scriblerus Club. The main aim of the club was to bring upon works with satirical take on ignorance and pedantry through the creation of a fictional character of Martinus Scriblerus.

Year 1712 witnessed the release of two of his poetry works, ‘Messiah’ and ‘The Rape of the Lock’. While the former delves into the theme of merging the prophecy of Isaiah about the birth of Messaih, the latter is a satirical take on the attitude of high society people. It depicts the fierce quarrel between Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre who snipped a lock of hair from the former’s head without her permission.

He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.