The English poet, Alexander Pope, was my choice for this project due to his profound sense of satire and his often scathing view of the world in which he lived in.

His was an era of intense anti-Catholic sentiment in England, and particularly in London. During his childhood, his family was forced to move to Berkshire to comply with a statute forbidding Catholics from living within ten miles of London or Westminster.

His religious beliefs further prevented him from attending the Protestant universities to become a classical scholar. His educational options were limited to that which was provided by the Catholic priests and, of course, his own initiative and motivation for self-study. Highly intelligent and fluent in several languages of the age, he was a voracious reader in English, French, Italian, Latin and Greek. His appreciation of the latter compelled him to translate both Homer's Iliad, published in six volumes from 1715 to 1720, and the Odyssey, 1725-1726.

His life, though troubled, was made most notable by the works that he produced and his ability to overcome adversity. However, that is not to say that he was without fault. Described as "exceptionally irritable and hypersensitive", it goes on to state that "Pope was a bitterly quarrelsome man and routinely attacked his literary peers, viciously and often without provocation". How accurate that statement is remains to be seen however to those whom he admired and befriended he was known to be warm, caring and considerate. Sought after for his wit and wisdom, he was often entertained by many of the most learned and powerful figures of the day and was wholly embraced by the fashionable circle of London writers.

Pope's exceptional brilliance and caustic humor has left an indelible mark on the literary world, one which has provided countless inspiration and intrigue.

As outlined in the assignment guidelines, I have included in this site all of the required elements, all of which are shown at left in the scrolling content area. I chose to leave the content information about Alexander Pope intact since I did not feel that I would be able to provide a more accurate description of the person or the poet. I did though include the source of the information as well as a link to the relevant website. With the exception of the image shown here on the home page, which is a royalty free stock image, I have used all original photography from my collection.

A great deal of time and effort went into the creation of this site, perhaps far more than the assignment dictated. To be honest, a large portion of the time spent could have been prevented with better planning and a clearer sense of what I was trying to accomplish from the beginning. Overall though, this assignment was extremely beneficial to my understanding of DHTML/JavaScript and of the use and interaction of multiple elements.

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