“Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool. But you yourself may prove to show it, Every fool is not a poet.” ― Alexander Pope

Impromptu

BY ALEXANDER POPE

To Lady Winchelsea, 

Occasioned by four Satirical Verses on Women Wits, 

In The Rape of the Lock

In vain you boast poetic names of yore, 

And cite those Sapphos we admire no more: 

Fate doomed the fall of every female wit; 

But doomed it then, when first Ardelia writ. 

Of all examples by the world confessed, 

I knew Ardelia could not quote the best; 

Who, like her mistress on Britannia’s throne, 

Fights and subdues in quarrels not her own. 

To write their praise you but in vain essay; 

Even while you write, you take that praise away. 

Light to the stars the sun does thus restore, 

But shines himself till they are seen no more. 

Born today, May 21, 1688 in London, Alexander Pope is the acknowledged master of the heroic couplet and one of the primary tastemakers of the Augustan age, a central figure in the Neoclassical movement of the early 18th century. He was known for having perfected the rhymed couplet form of his idol, John Dryden, and turned it to satiric and philosophical purposes. His mock epic The Rape of the Lock (1714) derides elite society, while An Essay on Criticism (1711) and An Essay on Man (1733-34) articulate many of the central tenets of 18th-century aesthetic and moral philosophy. He is best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, he is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.
for more pls read: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Pope-English-author
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alexander-pope
or listen to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwpyRCu8mHA