Alexander Pope: Poems selected by John Fuller (Poet to Poet)

by JohnFuller (Editor), Alexander Pope (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $7.40

  In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets of our literature. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an essayist, critic, satirist, poet and translator. He published An Essay on Criticism in 1711 and a republished version of The Rape of the Lock in 1714. His Collected Works were published in 1717 and he translated the Iliad and the Odyssey into English. The Dunciad (1728), one of his most famous works, was a vicious satire on Dullness featuring many of his contemporaries.

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.25

  Though opinion on Alexander Pope has frequently been divided, he is now regarded as the most important poet of the early 18th century. An invalid from infancy, he devoted his energies towards literature and achieved remarkable success with his first published work at the age of 21. A succession of brillant poems followed, including An Essay on Criticism (1711), Windsor Forest (1715), and his masterpiece, The Rape of the Lock . A second period of great poetry was begun in 1728 with the appearance of the first Dunciad . All these works, which exhibit Pope's human insight, his wide sympathies, and powers of social observation (displayed to greatest effect in his talent for satire), are to be found in this selection of poetry. In his introduction, which amounts to an eloquent defence of Pope's poetic practice, Pat Rodgers argues that the romantic conception of poetry as a record of fleeting and subjective states must be abandoned if readers are to understand Pope fully. Instead, he must be seen as an accomplished practitioner of the poetry of ideas and of satirical reflection on human society. Rogers also edited The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature and An Outline of English Literature .