Explores Alexander Pope's early career as a literary author, and provides a transformative account of the eighteenth century poet.

“Drawing on deep familiarity with the period and its personalities, Rogers has given us a witty and richly detailed account of the ongoing war between the greatest poet of the eighteenth century and its most scandalous publisher.”—Leo Damrosch, author of The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age “What sets Rogers’s history apart is his ability to combine fastidious research with lucid, unpretentious prose. History buffs and literary-minded readers alike are in for a punchy, drama-filled treat.”—Publishers Weekly The quarrel between the poet Alexander Pope and the publisher Edmund Curll has long been a notorious episode in the history of the book, when two remarkable figures with a gift for comedy and an immoderate dislike of each other clashed publicly and without restraint. However, it has never, until now, been chronicled in full. Ripe with the sights and smells of Hanoverian London, The Poet and Publisher details their vitriolic exchanges, drawing on previously unearthed pamphlets, newspaper articles, and advertisements, court and government records, and personal letters. The story of their battles in and out of print includes a poisoning, the pillory, numerous instances of fraud, and a landmark case in the history of copyright. The book is a forensic account of events both momentous and farcical, and it is indecently entertaining.

DigiCat presents to you this meticulously edited and formatter collection: Contents: Volume 1: Pastorals Mesiah An Essay on Criticism The Rape of the Lock Windsor-Forest Ode on Cecilia's Day Two Choruses to the Tragedy of Brutus To the Author of a Poem Entitled Successio Ode on Solitude The Dying Christian to His Soul Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady Prologue to Mr Addison's Tragedy of Cato Imitations of English Poets The Temple of Fame Eloisa to Abelard Epistle to Robert Earl of Oxford Epistle to James Craggs Epistle to Mr Jervas Epistle to Miss Blount Epistle to Mrs Teresa Blount Epitaphs An Essay on Man Epistle to Dr Akbuthnot Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated The Satires of Dr John Versified Epilogue to the Satires Volume 2: Moral Essays Translations and Imitations: Sappho to Phaon The Fable of Dryope Vertumnus and Pomona The First Book of Statius's Thebais January and May The Wife of Bath Prologues and Epilogues Miscellanies: The Basset-Table Lines on receiving from the Right Hon. the Lady Frances Shirley a Standish and Two Pens Verbatim from Boileau Answer to the following Question of Mrs Howe Occasioned by some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham Macer: a Character Song, by a Person of Quality On a Certain Lady at Court On his Grotto at Twickenham Roxana, or the Drawing-Room To Lady Mary Wortley Montague Extemporaneous Lines on a Portrait of Lady Mary Wortley Montague Lines sung by Durastanti when she took leave of the English Stage Upon the Duke of Marlborough's House at Woodstock Verses left by Mr Pope The Challenge The Three Gentle Shepherds Epigram, engraved on the Collar of a Dog The Translator The Looking-Glass A Farewell to London Sandys' Ghost Umbra Sylvia, a Fragment Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea Epigram Epigram on the Feuds about Handel and Bononcini On Mrs Tofts, a celebrated Opera Singer The Balance of Europe The Universal Prayer The Dunciad...

This title was first published in 2002: Making use of the growing body of research in recent years on the nature of creativity, Netta Goldsmith here presents a new view of the famous poet whose personality has long frustrated scholars as elusive. Goldsmith tells the story of Pope's life so as to show the factors-personal and public, psychological and social-which shaped his character and enabled him to secure widespread recognition as a major poet. Discussions of significant works are integrated into the narrative covering main events and key relationships, as well as illustrating points made throughout about Pope's approach to his art. Among other things this book shows how vulnerable Pope felt as a Papist in a time of endemic Jacobite activity, and how his fear of possible prosecution for sedition determined much of his conduct and the way he shaped his career. Alexander Pope: The evolution of a poet not only provides a fresh perspective on Pope, but also on the very nature of literary creativity.

First published with revisions as an Oxford World's Classics paperback: 2006.