Originally published in 1988, this Anglo-American collaborative volume, which appeared during the 300th anniversary of Alexander Pope's birth in 1688, brings together contributions from a large number of the most outstanding scholars in the field of Pope studies. It is a comprehensive collective survey of the poet's life and work. The essays centre on his poetry, while his life and reputation, his translations and relation to the classical world, and his attitudes to women are also discussed. There is a section on landscape gardening and the villa at Twickenham, and another on Pope and posterity. A diversity of approaches is represented, but with recurrent themes and a general awareness of Pope's place in the contemporary literary context. A major landmark in Pope studies, this book provided a well-judged assessment, while affirming and extending the poet's standing.
List of plates; Notes on contributors; Preface; Abbreviations; Part I. The Rape of the Lock: 1. Virgins visited by angel powers: The Rape of the Lock, platonick love, sylphs and some mysticks Partrica Brückmann; 2. The Rape of the Lock and the contexts of warfare Howard D. Weinbrot; Part II. Pope and Women: 3. 'Dipt in the rainbow': Pope on women Felicity Rosslyn; 4. Engendering the reader: 'Wit and Poetry and Pope' once more Penelope Wilson; Part III. An Essay on Man: 5. Pope on the origins of society Howard Erskine-Hill; 6. Pope and the arts of pleasure David B. Morris; Part IV. Landscape Gardening and the Villa at Twickenham: 7. Pope, Kent and 'Palladian' gardening John Dixon Hunt; 8. The iconography of Pope's villa: images of poetic fame Morris R. Brownell; Part V. Pope and Translation and Criticism: 9. Moving cities: Pope as translator and transposer A. D. Nuttall; 10. The genius of Pope's genius: criticism and the text(s) Wallace Jackson; Part VI. Pope and Posterity: 11. 'Wholesome country air': Pope, Pushkin and other Pat Rogers; 12. Pope and the tradition in modern humanistic education: '... in the pale of Words till death' G. S. Rousseau; 13. An anatomy of Pope-bashing Donald Greene; Index.
