Pope originally wrote

at two different periods in his life and subsequently reshaped the parts into a single poem. The first part (1-290) was initially written in 1704, at the same time as his

, when he was only sixteen. He wrote the second part (291-434) eight years later, in 1712, to herald the “Sacred Peace” and “long-expected” (355) Treaty of Utrecht, the preliminaries for which had been agreed in London in October 1711, but which was not finally ratified until 11 April 1713. Pope worked on these two parts, altering and adding to them, throughout the summer, autumn and winter of 1712. The finished poem was then published on 7 March 1713, a few weeks before the Treaty was finally signed. Pope did not simply join two pieces of separate composition…

2743 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Windsor Forest". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8808, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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