Who is Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744) was an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his satirical verse, including Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad, and for his translation of Homer. He is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare.From the age of 12, he suffered numerous health problems including Pott's disease, which deformed his body and stunted his growth. He also suffered from respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes, and abdominal pain. His poor health alienated him from society, and though he had many female friends to whom he wrote witty letters, he never married.
In May, 1709, Pope's Pastorals was published and earned him instant fame. This wa...
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Alexander Pope Poems
- Epistle To Robert Earl Of Oxford And Earl Mortimer
Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung,
Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.
Oh just beheld and lost! admired and mourn'd!
With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd! ... - Umbra.[85]
Close to the best known author Umbra sits,
The constant index to old Button's wits,
'Who's here?' cries Umbra: 'Only Johnson.'[86]--'Oh!
Your slave,' and exit; but returns with Rowe: ... - The Dunciad: Book The Second
ARGUMENT.
The king being proclaimed, the solemnity is graced with public games and sports of various kinds; not instituted by the hero, as by Aeneas in Virgil, but for greater honour by the goddess in person (in like manner as the games Pythia, Isthmia, &c., were anciently said to be ordained by the gods, and as Thetis herself appearing, according to Homer, Odyss. xxiv., proposed the prizes in honour of her son Achilles). Hither flock the poets and critics, attended, as is but just, with their patrons and booksellers. The goddess is first pleased, for her disport, to propose games to the booksellers, and setteth up the phantom of a poet, which they contend to overtake. The races described, with their divers accidents. Next, the game for a poetess. Then follow the exercises for the poets, of tickling, vociferating, diving: The first holds forth the arts and practices of dedicators; the second of disputants and fustian poets; the third of profound, dark, and dirty party-writers. Lastly, for the critics, the goddess proposes (with great propriety) an exercise, not of their parts, but their patience, in hearing the works of two voluminous authors, one in verse, and the other in prose, deliberately read, without sleeping: the various effects of which, with the several degrees and manners of their operation, are here set forth; till the whole number, not of critics only, but of spectators, actors, and all present, fall fast asleep; which naturally and necessarily ends the games.
... - Prologue, Designed For Mr D'urfey's Last Play
Grown old in rhyme, 'twere barbarous to discard
Your persevering, unexhausted bard;
Damnation follows death in other men,
But your damn'd poet lives and writes again. ... - Epitaph Xiv. On Edmund Duke Of Buckingham, Who Died In The Nineteenth Year Of His Age, 1735
If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd,
And every opening virtue blooming round,
Could save a parent's justest pride from fate,
Or add one patriot to a sinking state; ...
Top 10 most used topics by Alexander Pope
Great 66 Long 65 Soul 62 Rise 59 Good 58 Soft 54 Sense 52 Thought 52 Place 51 Mind 49Alexander Pope Quotes
- A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
- Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown proposed as things forgot.
- Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
- It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow necked bottles the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out.
- Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.
Comments about Alexander Pope
- Ricklondongreen: you purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live. ~alexander pope
- Bollom: to err is human; to forgive, divine. — alexander pope unforgiveness can shorten your life..diseases develop as a result of the stress of offense, bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness can put on a person. unforgiveness hinders our health!
- Espritdelionne: "much of the non-european world was colonized under the guise of the doctrine of discovery - a decree issued by pope alexander vi, that categorized indigenous peoples as subhuman because they were not christian and treated their land as unoccupied and available for the taking."
- Tom_paine_jr: "for forms of municipal government let fools contest, that which most abounds in civically virtuous leadership is best." (what you get if you mash-up alexander pope with maurizio viroli).
- Victorhubress: alexander pope
