The Major Works

This authoritative edition was first published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Pope's poetry and prose - the major poems in their entirety, together with translations, criticism, letters and other prose - to give the essence of his work and thinking. Pope has often been termed the first truly professional poet in English, whose dealings with the book trade helped to produce the literary market-place of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this representative selection of Pope's most important work, the texts are presented in chronological sequence so that the Moral Essays and Imitations of Horace are restored to their original position in his career. The Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock, and Peri Bathous are presented in full, together with a characteristic sample of Pope's prose, including satires, pamphlets, and periodical writing. The influential preface to his edition of Shakespeare is here, as well as passages from his conversations with Joseph Spence and examples of his wide-ranging correspondence. This fine edition features a comprehensive biographical index, as well as an introduction and invaluable notes.