He was a Catholic, which made his education difficult

One of the interesting facts about Alexander Pope is that he was a Catholic, which made his education difficult. Alexander Pope was born in London on May 21, 1688, during the Glorious Revolution. His father (Alexander Pope) was a renowned linen merchant on London's Strand. Edith, his mother, was the daughter of York's William Turner, Esquire. Both of his parents were Catholic. His mother's sister married the well-known miniature painter Samuel Cooper. The adopted Test Acts, a set of English penal laws that protected the status of the established Church of England by prohibiting Catholics from teaching, attending university, voting, and holding public office under penalty of lifelong imprisonment, had an impact on Pope's education. Pope learned to read from his aunt and attended Twyford School in 1698. In London, he also attended two Roman Catholic schools. Although unlawful, such schools were permitted in some locations.

In 1700, his family relocated to Popeswood, a modest estate in Binfield, Berkshire, near the royal Windsor Forest. This was due to anti-Catholic sentiment and a law prohibiting "Papists" from residing within 16 kilometers of London or Westminster. Pope's formal education stopped at this point, and he educated himself mostly through reading the works of ancient writers such as the satirists Horace and Juvenal, epic poets Homer and Virgil, and English authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Dryden. He learned numerous languages and read poets from France, Italy, Latin, and Greece. Pope encountered literary figures such as William Congreve, Samuel Garth, and William Trumbull after five years of study.