Alexander POPE (1688-1744)

Pope wrote during what is often called the Augustan Age of English literature (indeed, it is Pope's career that defines the age). During this time, the nation had recovered from the English Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution, and the regained sense of political stability led to a resurgence of support for the arts. For this reason, many compared the period to the reign of Augustus in Rome, under whom both Virgil and Horace had found support for their work. The prevailing taste of the day was neoclassical, and 18th-century English writers tended to value poetry that was learned and allusive, setting less value on originality than the Romantics would in the next century. This literature also tended to be morally and often politically engaged, privileging satire as its dominant mode.

The Rape of the Lock (1712)

The poem is perhaps the most outstanding example in the English language of the genre of mock-epic. The epic had long been considered one of the most serious of literary forms; it had been applied, in the classical period, to the lofty subject matter of love and war, and, more recently, by Milton, to the intricacies of the Christian faith. The strategy of Pope's mock-epic is not to mock the form itself, but to mock his society in its very failure to rise to epic standards, exposing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the traditional epic subjects and the bravery and fortitude of epic heroes: Pope's mock-heroic treatment in The Rape of the Lock underscores the ridiculousness of a society in which values have lost all proportion, and the trivial is handled with the gravity and solemnity that ought to be accorded to truly important issues. The society on display in this poem is one that fails to distinguish between things that matter and things that do not. The poem mocks the men it portrays by showing them as unworthy of a form that suited a more heroic culture. Thus the mock-epic resembles the epic in that its central concerns are serious and often moral, but the fact that the approach must now be satirical rather than earnest is symptomatic of how far the culture has fallen.

Pope's use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of the Lock is a poem in which every element of the contemporary scene conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical world view, and the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness and expertise that makes the poem surprising and delightful. Pope's transformations are numerous, striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and Roman gods are converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry substitute for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of love.
　

Study Questions

1.  In what ways is The Rape of the Lock a mock-heroic poem?

2.  What is the background story (occasion) for the poem?  To whom does the poet dedicate the poem?

3.  In ll. 7-8, is the male protagonist well-bred?  Can you describe him from his behavior?

4.  Pay attention to the poetic diction Pope uses in ll. 7-11.  To what does this kind of diction belong? Heroic, gentle, graceful, sarcastic, ironic, cynical, witty, jeering, or satirical?  What effect does this create?

5.  Comment on the guardian Sylph's speech to Belinda.  Is it quite a style?

6.  When the Fair expires in all their pride, what happens to them?  (Hint: ll. 59-60 (fire) fiery termagants--Salamander; ll.61-62 (water) soft yielding minds--water nymph; ll.63-64 (earth) graver prude--Gnome; ll.65-66 (air) light coquettes--Sylph in the air.)

7.  Why does the Sylph advise Belinda to remain fair and chaste?

8.  Where are the little Sylphs to protect her?  To protect her from what kind of men?

9.  When the world imagines women go astray, who guides them on their way?

10. What does Ariel predict? Does he know exactly what, how, and where this will happen?

11. How does Belinda end her dream?

12.  To what does the poet compare Belinda's dressing up?

13.  Pay attention to the poetic diction of the last stanza. What kind of diction is this?  (unveiled, silver vase, mystic, robed in white, offerings, curious toil, glittering spoil,…)

14.  The brief reference of India and Arabia expands the scope and the atmosphere. But what opposite effect does it bring?

15.  According to l.139, what does the poet portray the lady as here?

Links

Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock: Introduction

The Rape of the Lock Homepage

SparkNotes: The Rape of the Lock 
(Plot summary and analysis for The Rape of the Lock , by Alexander Pope)

The Unfortunate Lock
(A brief study of "The Rape of the Lock")

University of Florida - Rare Book Collection : Engraving from Alexander Pope's The Rope of the Lock