Moreover, the grotesque womanized representation of Pope’s body strongly influences the body of his works. As Helen Deutsch argues, “Pope, who spoke of his own body as “the wretched carcase I am annexed to,” turns the torture of his physical existence into an image of his art. The poet translates the battleground of the active mind within the wasted frame which his deformity makes of him into his particular brand of literary imitation . . . Pope’s work binds art inexorably to the physical reality we expect it to transcend.”20 Since his feminized body and text become interconnected, the relationship confuses the idea of eighteenth century rational masculinity. Thus, his grotesque body is not only reproducing itself, it also, following procreation, “builds and creates another body,”21 the Dunciad. If this “offspring” is also grotesque, then Pope and his production become one feminized and feminizing force.

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