Alexander Pope, a Poet and Translator Essay

Alexander Pope was a noble poet from London, England. His years of activity as a writer were dated to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Moreover, this man of great talent gained his popularity for writing satirical poetry and for translating multiple writings by Homer into English. It is an interesting fact that Alexander Pope is also the second most quoted author after his colleague, William Shakespeare, in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

Pope’s satirical poems that were composed along with his friend from the Scriblerus club brought him the first fame of a writer. Pope was living with his parent in their house, but his works on some of the writings by Homer provided him with enough finances to find his own dwelling, which happened to be a villa at Twickenham. Nevertheless, his first creation under the name of Essay on Criticism was produced in the year 1711 and was published anonymously. It took Pope circa three years to complete his thoughts and imagination in this poem. In turn, Rape of the Lock remains the most famous publication of this author because it contains some mock-epic episodes and distinguishes quarrels among high-society people as an object of derision.

The first writing by Homer that was translated into English by Alexander Pope is the Iliad, which was very successful and accepted by the English society. His other translation work was on the Odyssey. In order to complete this translation, he invited William Broome and Elijah Fenton to collaborate with him. Although these people translated a significant part of the text, Alexander Pope received all the profit, whereas his reputation was not damaged for a long period.

Alexander Pope died in the year 1744 in his villa. At the moment of his death, all his friends surrounded the great poet. Pope’s resting place is at Saint Mary’s Church in Twickenham.