Wednesday 7 January 2015

Alexander Pope Biography


Alexander Pape biography and His work

 

(1688-1744)

Alexander Pope was born in London in 1688. His father Edith Pope was a Roman Catholic linen-merchant, who was forty-four when Alexander, her only child, was born. Edith Pope belonged to a large Yorkshire family, which divided along Catholic and Protestant lines. Pope spent his early childhood at Binfield on the edge of Windsor Forest, and recalled this period as a golden age. Joseph Spence, a critic, minor poet, and Pope's biographer, tells that Pope was "a child of a particularly sweet tempers and had a great deal of sweetness in his look when he was a boy". Due to his melodious voice, he was nicknamed "the Little Nightingale

Pope's father, the son of an Anglican priest, had converted to Catholicism, which caused the family many problems. At the time Catholics suffered from repressive legislation and prejudices - they were not allowed to enter any universities or held public employment. Thus Pope had an uneven education, which was often interrupted. From Twyford School he was expelled after writing a satire on one of the teachers. At home, Pope's aunt taught him to read. He learnt Latin and Greek from a local priest and later he acquired knowledge of French and Italian poetry. Pope also attended clandestine Catholic schools.

Most of his time Pope spend reading books from his father's library - he "did nothing but write and read”. While still at school, Pope wrote a play based on speeches from the Iliad. Samuel Johnson tells that Pope's early epic poem, called Alcander, was burned at the suggestion of Francis Atterbury.

In 1700, when his family moved to Binfield in Windsor Forest, Pope contracted tuberculosis through infected milk. It was probably Pott's disease, a tubercular affection of the bones. He also suffered from asthma and headaches, and his humpback was a constant target for his critics in literary battles - Pope was called a "hunchbacked toad". In middle age he was 4ft 6in tall and wore a stiffened canvas bodice            4^) to support his spine.

After moving to London, Pope published his first major work, An Essay on Criticism.

This discussion was based on neoclassical doctrines and derived standards of taste from the order of nature: "Good nature and good sense must ever join; / To err is human, to forgive divine."

Before becoming one of the members of Scriblerus Club, Pope associated with anti­Catholic Whig friends, but by 1713 he had moved towards the Tories. His friends among Tory intellectuals included Jonathan Switft, Gay, Congreve, and Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. In 1712 Pope published an early version of THE RAPE OF THE LOCK, an elegant satire about the battle between the sexes, and follies of a young woman with her "puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux". The work was expanded in 1714. Its first version consisted of two cantos (1712) and the final version five cantos (1714). Rape of the Lock originated from a quarrel between two families with whom Pope was acquainted. The cause was not very small - the 7th Lord Petre cut off a lock of Miss Arabella Fermor's hair, and kept it as a trophy. Although Pope did not admit it, the title of the work was most likely influenced by Alessandro Tassoni's mock- epic The Rape of the Bucket, from 1622.
Pope admired Horace and Vergilius and valued them as models for poetry. His great achievements were the translations of Iliad and Odyssey into English. The success of the translations enabled him to move to Twickenham from anti-Catholic pressure of the Jacobites. However, Pope remained a Catholic even after the death of his father (d. 1717) and mother (d. 1733). Pope's collected works were published in 1717. He was one of the first professional poets to be self-sufficient as a result of his non-dramatic writings.
In Twickenham Pope to studied horticulture and landscape gardening. During his last years, Pope designed a romantic "grot" (j^ ^ ^j^) in a tunnel, which linked the waterfront with his back garden. It was walled with shells and pieces of mirror. Pope's villa, about fifteen miles from London, attracted also a number of writers, including Swift, whom Pope helped with the publication of Gulliver's Travels. With his neighbor, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Pope formed an attachment, but when the friendship cooled down, he started a lifelong relationship with Martha Blount. Pope had met Martha and her sister Teresa already in 1711. Later in IMITATIONS OF HORACE (1733) Pope referred to his former friend Lady Mary as "Sappho" and wrote: "Give me again my hollow tree, / A crust of bread, and liberty."
In ESSAY ON MAN (1733-34) Pope examined the human condition against Miltonic, cosmic background. Although Pope's perspective is well above our everyday life, and he do not hide his wide knowledge, the dramatic work suggest than humankind is a part of nature and the diversity of living forms: "Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: / Is Heaven unkind to Man, and Man alone?" In MORAL ESSAYS (1731) Pope separated behavior from character: "Not always actions show the man: we find / Who does a kindness is not therefore kind." Pope prepared an edition of his correspondence, altered to his own advantage. With the translation of the Odyssey, Pope was eager to take all the credit, trying to avoid mentioning the contribution of other writers.
In his time Pope was famous for his witty satires and aggressive, bitter quarrels with other writers. When his edition of William Shakespeare was attacked, he answered with the savage burlesque THE DUNCIAD (1728), which was widened in 1742. It ridiculed bad writers, scientists, and critics. "While pensive poets painful vigils keep, / Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep." Pope died on May 30, 1744. Pope left his property to Martha Blount. Before his death, Pope was mad for a period of time, and he claimed to see an arm coming through the wall. His last epic poem, Brutus, was left unfinished.
Modern critics consider The Rape of the Lock to be the

supreme example of mock-heroic verse in the English language. Written in heroic couplets, the

poem was most likely composed during the late summer of 1711 and first published in the May edition of Lintot's Miscellany in 1712. The original version of the poem contained 334 lines in two cantos. A more elaborate version appeared two years later, extending the poem to 794 lines in five cantos; a slight final revision was completed for the poem's inclusion in Pope's Works (1717). Inspired by an actual event, The Rape of the Lock recounts the circumstances surrounding the theft of a lock of a young woman's hair by an impassioned male admirer, which caused a rift (Aj'j-) between the families involved. The poem was intended to restore harmonious relations between the estranged (oa*2£) families. Subtitled “a heroi-comical poem,” The Rape of the Lock treats the petty matter in full-blown epic style, which results in a great deal of humor. It uses the elevated heroic language that John Dryden, Pope's literary forebear, had perfected in his translation of Virgil and incorporates amusing parodies of passages from John Milton's Paradise Lost, Vergil's Aeneid, and Homer's Iliad, which Pope was translating at the time. Celebrated as a achievement of English originality, The Rape of the Lock established Pope as a master of metrics and a sophisticated satirist.

Belinda gets up after

sleeping and get ready for day’s social activities. Her guardian sylph, Ariel, warns her in a dream that some disaster will happen with her today. He promises to protect her to the best of his abilities. However, Belinda takes little notes of this warning. After spending a lot of time on dressing and make up, she travels on the Thames River to Hampton Court Palace, an ancient royal residence outside of London. Here, a group of wealthy young people are gathering for a party. Among them is the Baron who has already made up his mind to steal a lock of Belinda's hair. He rises early to perform a set of prayers and sacrifices to have success in his aim. When the partygoers arrive at the palace, they enjoy a tense game of cards. This is followed by a round of coffee. Then the Baron takes up a pair of scissor and cut of the lock of Belinda's hair on third try. Belinda is furious. Umbriel a mischievous genome (cjj), journeys down to the Cave of Spleen (^jp ^ ^) to get a sack of sighs and a flask of tears, which he then pour on the heroin to enflame her anger. Clarissa inflames the fire of rage of Belinda to take the revenge from the Baron. Belinda starts a quarrel between the ladies and gentlemen, in which she attempts to recover the curl of hair cut by the Baron. The lock is lost in the confusion of this mock battle. However, the poet consoles the grieved Belinda with the suggestion that it has been taken up into heavens and immortalized as a constellation (^*>^ l£ jjjti^).

Belinda - Belinda is based on the historical Arabella Fermor, a member of Pope’s circle of prominent Roman Catholics. Robert, Lord Petre (the Baron in the poem) had precipitated a rift between their two families by snipping off a lock of her hair.

The Baron - This is the pseudonym (fj ^^j*) for the historical Robert, Lord Petre, the young gentleman in Pope’s social circle who offended Arabella Fermor and her family by cutting off a lock of her hair. In the poem’s version of events, Arabella is known as Belinda.

Caryl - The historical basis for the Caryl character is John Caryll, a friend of Pope and of the two families that had become estranged over the incident the poem relates. It was Caryll who suggested that Pope encourage reconciliation by writing a humorous poem.

Goddess - The muse who, according to classical convention, inspires poets to write their verses

Shock - Belinda’s lapdog

Ariel - Belinda’s guardian sylph, who supervises an army of invisible protective gods.

Umbriel - The chief gnome, who travels to the Cave of Spleen and returns with bundles of sighs and tears to aggravate Belinda’s vexation

Brillante - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda’s earrings

Momentilla - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda’s watch

Crispissa - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda’s “favourite Lock”

Clarissa - A woman in attendance at the Hampton Court party. She lends the Baron the pair of scissors with which he cuts Belinda’s hair, and later delivers a moralizing lecture.

Thalestris - Belinda’s friend, named for the Queen of the Amazons and representing the historical Gertrude Morley, a friend of Pope’s and the wife of Sir George Browne (rendered as her “beau,” Sir Plume, in the poem). She eggs Belinda on in her anger and demands that the lock be returned.

Sir Plume - Thalestris’s “beau,” who makes an ineffectual challenge to the Baron. He represents the historical Sir George Browne, a member of Pope’s social circle.

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