Voltaire once said that “An Essay on Man” is “the most sublime didactic poem ever written in any language” (later however, he renounced his admiration for it). Rousseau rhapsodized about its intellectual consolations. Kant recited long...
Pope had been fascinated by Homer since childhood and in 1713 announced his plans to publish a translation of the Iliad. The work would be available by subscription, with one volume appearing every year over the course of six years. Pope secured a...