includes the
correspondence
with Swift.
Alexander Pope
1717 'Works', including some new poems.
1719 Settles at Twickenham.
1720 Sixth and last volume of the 'Iliad'.
1722 Begins translation of 'Odyssey'.
1725 Edits Shakespeare.
1726 Finishes translation of 'Odyssey'.
1727-8 'Miscellanies' by Pope and Swift.
1728-9 'Dunciad'.
1731-2 'Moral Essays': 'Of Taste', 'Of the Use of Riches'.
1733-4 'Essay on Man'.
1733-8 'Satires and Epistles'.
1735 'Works'.
1735 'Letters' published by Curll.
1741 'Works in Prose'; vol. II.
includes the correspondence with Swift.
1742 Fourth book of 'Dunciad'.
1742 Revised 'Dunciad'.
1744 Died, May 30.
1751 First collected edition, published by Warburton, 9 vols.
* * * * *
SELECTIONS FROM POPE
* * * * *
THE RAPE OF THE LOCK
AN HEROI-COMICAL POEM
Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos;
Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis.
Mart, [Epigr, XII. 84. ]
TO MRS. ARABELLA FERMOR
MADAM,
It will be in vain to deny that I have some regard for this piece, since
I dedicate it to You. Yet you may bear me witness, it was intended only
to divert a few young Ladies, who have good sense and good humour enough
to laugh not only at their sex's little unguarded follies, but at their
own. But as it was communicated with the air of a Secret, it soon found
its way into the world. An imperfect copy having been offer'd to a
Bookseller, you had the good-nature for my sake to consent to the
publication of one more correct: This I was forc'd to, before I had
executed half my design, for the Machinery was entirely wanting to
compleat it.
The Machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the Critics, to signify that
part which the Deities, Angels, or Daemons are made to act in a Poem:
For the ancient Poets are in one respect like many modern Ladies: let an
action be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the
utmost importance. These Machines I determined to raise on a very new
and odd foundation, the Rosicrucian doctrine of Spirits.
I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a Lady;
but't is so much the concern of a Poet to have his works understood, and
particularly by your Sex, that you must give me leave to explain two or
three difficult terms.
