Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Pope never grew taller than four feet and six inches, thanks to a bout with tuberculosis of the spine that left him disabled after age seven. This isn't what you'd call a "fun fact," but it's a good one to know about him. We think it explains a lot. (Source.)
When Pope made so many people angry over his satires that he feared for his personal safety, he got a large Great Dane to walk with him everywhere for protection. Her name was Bounce. You can see a painting of Pope and Bounce here.
Pope lost a lot of money in the first-ever stock market crash, a financial crisis of 1720 that came to be called the "South Sea Bubble." (Source.)
Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre ("Belinda" and "the Baron") never got married; Arabella married a local gentleman and had five sons with him. (Source.)
In 1717, a few years after the poem was published, Giles Jacob (another poet) wrote a smutty satire of it called The Rape of the Smock. You can read it on GoogleBooks—but check with your parents first.