In the year 1730, a man named Colley Cibber was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. His literary contemporaries, notably Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Henry Fielding, did not think him the least bit worthy of the position—first, they considered him a very bad poet, and second, they were sure that the only reason he got the job was because he was a Whig, like the Prime Minister at the time, but unlike most of the other prominent writers of the time.
But Cibber was not only a poet but also an actor who established and managed his own company, as well as a playwright—though his plays were mostly adaptations of Shakespeare's works. He had some success as a comedic actor but was roundly mocked when he tried to take on dramatic roles. His poems were parodied, his plays were derided, and in general he was considered to be Bad at Literature, despite his post. Pope in particular loved to attack Cibber in print, modeling oafish characters on him and directly insulting him.
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