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Born to a Catholic family in 1688, Alexander was educated mostly outside "normal" schools and colleges as a result of the penal laws that were in force at the time to uphold the status of the established Church of England. From early childhood he suffered numerous health problems, including tuberculosis of the spine, which deformed his body and stunted his growth. He never grew beyond 1.37m (4ft 6in).
Although he had been writing poetry since the age of 12, his first major contribution to the literary world is considered to be An Essay on Criticism, which was published in 1711 when he was 23. Other famous works include The Rape of the Lock ( 1712Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. Introduced Protestant faith in Switzerland. Thomas Newcomen builds the first piston-operated steam engine at Tipton, Staffordshire, UK. Ongoing events Great Northern War ( 1700- 1721) War of, revised 1714Events August 1 George, elector of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain. September 11 Barcelona surrenders to Spanish and French Borbonic armies in the War of the Spanish Succession. The Duchy of Savoy and Piedmont becomes the Kingdom of Sardini) as well as a six-volume translation of Homer's IliadThe Iliad is, alongside The Odyssey one of the two major Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, a blind Ionian poet. The Iliad and the Odyssey were considered by Greeks of the classical age and after as the most important works in Ancient Gre ( 1715Events September 1 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, leaving the throne of his exhausted and indebted country to his great-grandson Louis XV. Regent for the new, five years old monarch is Philippe d'Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV.- 1726Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver's Travels. The city of Montevideo was established. Mary Toft allegedly gives birth to 16 rabbits in England, later revealed to be a hoax. The Gujin tushu jicheng,).
Pope's poetic work mirrored the cultural history of his country. Alexander Pope wrote pastoralTitian's The Pastoral Concert Pastoral refers to the lifestyle of shepherds. In art, be it literature, painting, or another form, it refers to rural subjects such as villages, herdsmen, and milkmaids, that are romanticized and depicted in a highly unreali poetry under Queen AnneAnne ( 6 February 1665 1 August 1714), became Queen of England and Scotland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, when England and Scotland combined into a single Kingdom, Anne became the first Sovereign of Great Britain. She continued to reign until her death.; under George I, he translated the Iliad and the Odyssey (the latter with less critical success); in the third part of his writing, Pope directly addressed the major religious, political and intellectual problems of his time. He was the last major poet to write in traditional rhyming couplets; he developed the heroic couplet beyond that of any previous poet, and essentially exhausted its usefulness for later poets.
Pope also wrote the famous epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton:
to which Sir John Collings Squire later added the couplet
Pope had a friend and ally in Jonathan Swift, also a great writer of satire.
Pope's works were once considered part of the mental furniture of the well-educated person. One edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations includes no less than 212 quotations from Pope. Some, familiar even to those who may not know their source, are "A little learning is a dang'rous thing" (from the Essay on Criticism); "To err is human, to forgive, divine" (ibid.); "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread" (ibid); and "The proper study of mankind is man" (Essay on Man).