Alexander Pope The Major Works

by Power, Henry

• ISBN13: 9780198867852
• ISBN10: 0198867859
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780192638113
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-03-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

This volume in the 21st Century Oxford Authors series presents a substantial selection of Pope's writings, arranged in chronologically in order to give a sense of the development of his literary career. As well as the poems for which Pope is still best remembered—An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, the Essay on Man, the Imitations of Horace, and the Dunciad—readers will find a broad range of lesser-known comic and occasional poems and of his satirical and critical prose. In addition, this volume pays due attention to Pope's genius as a translator, and includes generous selections from his versions of Chaucer, Ovid, Statius, and especially Homer. Several of Pope's letters are also included. Particular care has been taken to give a sense of Pope's arrangement of his verse on the page, in order to reflect his particular interest in the printed form of his work.

Extensive commentary will guide readers to a full understanding and enjoyment of these ground-breaking works. The edition also includes a substantial introduction to Pope's writing, and a detailed chronology of his life.

Author Biography

Henry Power

Henry Power studied Classics and English at Brasenose College Oxford, and then read for a PhD in English at Cambridge. Since 2007, he has taught at the University of Exeter, where he is now Professor of English Literature. He is the author of Epic into Novel: Henry Fielding, Scriblerian Satire, and the Consumption of Classical Literature (2015), and has edited Joseph Addison's miscellaneous prose writings for Oxford University Press. He has held visiting positions at All Souls College, Oxford and at the Beinecke Library in Yale.

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChronologyNote on the Texts and their OrderingPOPE'S WORKSCommentaryBiographical AppendixAppendix: The Rape of the Locke (1712)