POPE, ALESSANDRO. - English poet, b. in London on 21 May 1688, d. at Twickenham on 30 May 1744. He began his poetic career very young with the Pastorals (1709), imitating the classics, which always remained his models and the study of which he advocates in the Essay on Criticism (1711).

With several collaborators he translated the Homeric poems (from 1715): the imitation of Ovid brings forth its finest flower in the Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard, based on the well-known correspondence of the two lovers, where cloistered life is depicted with the gloomy hues then in fashion; that of Horace produced the Imitations of Horace and several epistles to friends. Like Horace, P. is above all a "satirist," and the principal works in this respect are the Rape of the Lock (1st ed., later greatly expanded, 1712), where with sublime poetry he depicts a futile episode of high society; the Dunciad (1728), a most violent satire against men of letters, especially against those who had offended him; and the Essay on Man (1733), of a philosophical and moral character, not devoid of value in its well-conceived little scenes of everyday life.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Works, edited by W. Elwin and W. J. Courthope, 10 vols., London 1871-89; R. H. Griffith, A. P. A bibliography, Austin (Texas) 1927; E. Sitwell, A. P., London 1930; G. Sherburn, The early career of A. P., Oxford 1934.

Alberto Castelli

@incollection{ec9_pope_alessandro, author = {Castelli, Alberto}, title = {Pope, alessandro}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1758}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pope-alessandro} }

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Pope, Alessandro

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