For the student of English literature Pope's work has a threefold value. It represents the highest achievement of one of the great movements in the developments of English verse. It reflects with unerring accuracy the life and thought of his time — not merely the outward life of beau and belle in the days of Queen Anne, but the ideals of the age in art, philosophy, and politics. And finally it teaches as hardly any other body of English verse can be said to do, the perennial value of conscious and controlling art. Pope's work lives and will live while English poetry is read, not because of its inspiration, imagination, or depth of thought, but by its unity of design, vigor of expression, and perfection of finish — by those qualities, in short, which show the poet as an artist in verse.
Chief Dates In Pope's Life
| 1688 | Born, May 21 |
| 1700 | Moves to Binfield |
| 1709 | Pastorals |
| 1711 | Essay on Criticism |
| 1711-12 | Contributes to Spectator |
| 1712 | Rape of the Lock, first form |
| 1713 | Windsor Forest |
| 1713 | Issues proposals for translation of Homer |
| 1714 | Rape of the Lock, second form |
| 1715 | First volume of the Iliad |
| 1715 | Temple of Fame |
| 1717 | Pope's father dies |
| 1717 | Works, including some new poems |
| 1719 | Settles at Twickenham |
| 1720 | Sixth and last volume of the Iliad |
| 1722 | Begins translation of Odyssey |
| 1725 | Edits Shakespeare |
| 1726 | Finishes translation of Odyssey |
| 1727-8 | Miscellanies by Pope and Swift |
| 1728-9 | Dunciad |
| 1731-2 | Moral Essays: Of Taste, Of the Use of Riches |
| 1733-4 | Essay on Man |
| 1733-8 | Satires and Epistles |
| 1735 | Works |
| 1735 | Letters published by Curll |
| 1741 | Works in Prose; vol. II. includes the correspondence with Swift |
| 1742 | Fourth book of Dunciad |
| 1742 | Revised Dunciad |
| 1744 | Died, May 30 |
| 1751 | First collected edition, published by Warburton, 9 vols. |