Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet. Pope was born into a Catholic family in London, at the time this meant he couldn't attend university. In 1700 his family moved to Berkshire and Pope started to teach himself the classics and several languages. Disease left him stunted and hunch-backed and he never integrated into society. However he did make friends with several influential writers such as Dryden and Swift. Pope's style of poetry followed the heroic couplet form popularised by Dryden, although Pope was considerably more satirical. Pope also translated the Iliad (1713-20) and the Odyssey (1726). From 1732-34 he published his great work, Essay on Man, attempting to justify to ways of God to Man. This engraving by Jacobous Houbraken, based on a portrait by Arthur Pond, is from Birch's 'The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain' published in 1752.