Portrait of Alexander Pope (1688-1744), half-length, in a brown coat and a white stock, holding a letter inscribed 'Alx Pope', a landscape beyond

Alexander Pope was born in 1688, the son of a London linen-draper. As a child Pope was precocious and sang beautifully being called the 'little nightingale', at the age of twelve his health was so severe it resulted in his figure being distorted. Pope published many essays and poems notably a translation of the Illiad, the Odyssey, and later the 'Dunciad, and a collection of poems 'Moral Essays'. His writings accurately reflect the tendancies of the time, and with reference to that period he was a great poet. The satire and didactic nature of his work correspond to the taste the era, and his scholarly use of langauge led him to publish his work with unwearied ease. The first collective volume of his work was published in 1751.