ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) was an eighteenth-century English poet known for his satirical verse, for his translation of Homer, and for his use of the heroic couplet. Among his best-known works are "The Rape of the Lock," "An Essay on Criticism," and "The Dunciad."
CLAUDE RAWSON is a professor of English at Yale University. He is the author of several books on eighteenth-century writers, as well as numerous articles and reviews in academic journals and in The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, and London Review of Books.