 (1688 – 1744) is generally regarded as the greatest English poet of the early eighteenth century, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in the English language, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.
The Rape of the Lock is perhaps Pope's most popular poem. It is a mock-heroic epic, written to make fun of a high society quarrel between Arabella Fermor (the "Belinda" of the poem) and Lord Petre, who had snipped a lock of hair from her head without her permission.
The poetry of Alexander Pope holds an acknowledged place in the canon of English literature, although his work has gone in and out of fashion. One edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations includes no fewer than 212 quotations from Pope.
Some quotations from Pope's work have passed so deeply into the English language that they are often taken as proverbial by those who do not know their source: "A little learning is a dang'rous thing" (from the Essay on Criticism); "To err is human, to forgive, divine" (ibid.); "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread" (ibid.); "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" and "The proper study of mankind is man" (Essay on Man).
When Pope visited Bath for the first time in 1714, he praised the city in a letter to a friend, declaring that it had “the finest promenades in the world”. Afterwards, he came regularly during the season, and often stayed with Ralph Allen at Prior Park. The two men became close friends.
Ralph Allen continually landscaped, planted and gardened at Prior Park with the advice and influence of Alexander Pope and Lancelot "Capability" Brown.
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