Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (1688–1744), afflicted from childhood with Pott's disease (spinal tuberculosis) which stunted his growth at four feet six inches and caused lifelong chronic pain, was barred from attending English universities and holding public office due to his Roman Catholic faith. Undeterred, he educated himself voraciously in classical literature.

With unmatched precision in the heroic couplet (rhymed iambic pentameter), Pope wrote An Essay on Criticism (1711) and the mock-heroic jewel The Rape of the Lock (1712). His translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey earned him immense financial independence, enabling him to build his famous villa and subterranean grotto at Twickenham. His verses gave English scores of indelible axioms: 'To err is human, to forgive divine', 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread', and 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast'.