Alexander Pope1688-1744

Roman CatholicCould not vote inherit or purchase

land attend a public school

or university live within ten miles of

London hold public office openly practice

religion

Religion

Tuberculosis of the spine ◦ stunted his growth (4’6”)◦ rendered him hunchbacked and

deformed◦ left him with pain, migraines,

and frequent nausea◦ required assistance for daily

activities

Rival critics called him a “hunch-backed toad”◦ believed his ugly exterior

reflected mental and moral corruption

Illness and Disability

Spent his adolescent years reading the greatest writers of Europe and England

Self-taught Latin and Greek Staunch Tory Financially successful poet Mistrusted and manipulated

publishing business Member of the Scriblerus

Club with Gay and Swift

Inspired and determined

Poetry: a major cultural form

Essay on Criticism (1711) Rape of the Lock (1711, 1714) Windsor-Forest (1713) Iliad (1715-1720) Odyssey (1726) Shakespeare edition (1725) Dunciad (1728, 1742) Essay on Man (1733)

Inspired by true events

Mock-epic Heroic couplets

Rape of the Lock

Division into books Invocation of the

muse Use of gods to

commence, oversee and influence events

Dream message from the gods

Arming the heroes Sacrifice to the gods

Sea voyage Exhortation to the

troops Single combat Epic feast Journey to the

underworld General combat Apotheosis

Elements of Epics

Born in Dublin, Ireland

Raised around Glorious Revolution

Secretary to William Temple - 1688-1699

Church of Ireland clergyman

Relationship with Esther Johnson

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Frequent travels to England

Ménière's disease First Whig then Tory –

editor of The Examiner Part of Tory governments

of Queen Anne Pushed for clergy rights in

Ireland British oppression of

Ireland in 18th C. After fall of Tory gov’t,

given Deanery of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

Swift’s Context

Member of Scriblerus Club, friend of Pope

Author of numerous satires circulated as pamphlets:◦ Tale of a Tub (1704)◦ The Battle of the Books

(1704)◦ A Modest Proposal (1729)

– Irish famine of 1729. Author of many poems Much of his work dealt

with current events and/or people.

Swift’s Literary Career

Began 1713-1720 in Scriblerus Club

Published in 1726, then in amended (and controversial) edition in 1735.

Fear of prosecution led to some editing – restored portions in 1735.

Genre: Satire◦ Travel narrative◦ Anti-Whig politics◦ Irish question◦ Human nature◦ Novel?

Gulliver’s Travels