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At the age of twelve Pope contracted an illness (possibly Pott's
disease) which severely restricted his growth. As a grown man he was only 4 foot, 6
inches tall.
With money earned from his translations of Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey Pope took on the lease of a villa at Crossdeep, Twickenham in
1719. He spent considerable time and money on improving the house and redesigning the
gardens. Pope, known as 'the wasp of Twickenham', wrote many of his great
works here - including The Dunciad, which ruthlessly satirised Colley Cibber who
later became the Poet Laureate. The Dunciad was undoubtedly influenced by MacFlecknoe
by John Dryden.
Pope assisted John Gay in the writing of
Three Hours after Marriage but wrote nothing else for the theatre. Pope died in Twickenham
in 1744 and was buried next to his mother in the parish church. His friend William
Warburton later erected a monument to him on the north wall commenting on his
preference for Twickenham over Westminster Abbey.
Alexander Pope
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