Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is one of the greatest poets in European literature, comparable to the likes of likes of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Keats and Wordsworth. He is not easy to read though: his poetry uses dense literary and contemporary contextual allusions.

Valerie Rumbold is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Birmingham. She has published a range of articles on Pope and on eighteenth-century women writers. Her book Women's Place in Pope's World (1989) was awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize by the British Academy. She also edited the Longman Annotated Texts edition of Alexander Pope: The Dunciad in Four Books (1999).

Editor's Preface and Acknowledgements List of Plates Map of London The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem (1728) Headnote; The Publisher to the Reader; Book I; Book II; Book III; The Dunciad Variorum (1729) Headnote; Advertisement; A Letter to the Publisher; Testimonies of Authors; Martinus Scriblerus, of the Poem; Dunciados Periocha: or, Arguments to the Books; Book I; Book II; Book III; M. Scriblerus Lectori; Index of Persons celebrated in this Poem; Index of the Author's of the Notes; Appendix: Pieces contained in the Appendix; I: Preface prefix'd to the five imperfect Editions of the Dunciad; II: A List of Books, Papers, and Verses; III: A Copy of Caxton's Preface to his Translation of Virgil; IV: Virgilius Restauratus; V: A Continuation of the Guardian; VI: A Parallel; VII: A List of All our Author's Genuine Works; Index of Things (including Authors) Index of Persons Index of Selected Topics Bibliography