"This long disease, my life"

by Nicolson, Marjorie Hope

The authors of this book present a medical case history of the poet Alexander Pope (who suffered from many diseases throughout his life besides his well known dwarfism and hunchback). Drawing heavily upon the Correspondence for information about Pope's symptoms, they discuss his various ailments and the effect ill health had on his writing. In addition, the authors discuss the influence of his interest in astronomy science on Pope's poetic imagination as well as his interest in microscopy, geology and the building of a grotto, and physics.