14/12/2022

NAME: ANUSHKA MUDULI

COURSE: B.A ENGLISH HONOURS
ENROLLMENT NUMBER: A91606122044
COURSE CODE: ENGL105
SEMESTER: 1
SECTION: A
ASSIGNMENT FOR ENGLISH POETRY
FROM CHAUCER TO BLAKE
THE RAPE OF THE LOCK
- ALEXANDER POPE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alexander Pope was the greatest master of the classical school of poetry in the Augustan age.
He was born in London in 1688 and died in 1744. After Shakespeare, Pope is the most quoted
writers in the English language, as per the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. He is considered
a master of the heroic couplet. He is the best known for his satirical and discussive poetry
including the Rape of the Lock, the Dunciad and an essay on Criticism. His works such as the
Rape of the Lock was written in 1712 – 1714.
The Rape of the Lock is a mock – heroic narrative poem written by Pope. One of the most
commonly cited examples of high burlesque. It is an epic 5 cantor and a masterpiece by Pope.
It was founded on an incident which occurred in the Roman Catholic society. Lord Peter cut a
lock of hair form the head of a young pretty girl Arabella Fermor.

ABOUT THE POEM:

The rape of the Lock opens with an invocation of a muse and establishes the poem’s subject
matter, specifically a “dire offense from amorous causes” and the “mighty contests [rising]
from trivial things”. The speaker concludes his invocation by asking the muse to explain first
why a lord of good – breeding would assault a lady and, secondly, why a lady would reject a
lord? The action of the poem begins with the rising sun awakening the residents of a wealthy
household. Though everyone, including the lap dogs, has risen, Belind remains asleep. She
dreams of a handsome youth who informs her that she is protected by a “thousand bright in
habitants of air.” Spirits that were once human women who now protect woman dies, her
spirit returns to elemental form; namely, to fire, water, earth, and air. Each element is
characterized by different type of women. Termagants or scolds become fire spirits or
Salamanders. Indecisive women become water spirits. Prudes of women who delight in
rejecting men become Gnomes (earth spirits). Coquettes become Sylphs (air spirits). The
dream is sent to Belinda by Ariel, “her guardian Sylph”. The Sylphs are Belinda’s guardians
because they understand her vanity and pride, having been coquettes to any woman who
“rejects mankind”. Their role is to guide young women through the “mystic mazes” of social
interaction. At the end of the dream, Ariel warns Belinda of an impending “dread event”,
urging her to “beware of all, but most beware of Man”. Belinda is then awoken by her
lapdog, Shock. Upon rising, she sees that a billet – doux, or a love – letter, has arrived for
her, causing her to forget the details of the dream. Now awake, Belinda begins her elaborate
toilette. Pope endows every object from combs and pins to billet – doux and Bibles with
significance in this ritual of dressing: “each silver vase in mystic order laid”. Belinda herself
is described as a “goddess” looking at her “heavenly image” in the mirror. The elegant
language and importance of such objects thus elevate the process of dressing to a sacred life.
The Sylphs assist in Belinda’s dressing routine, setting her hair and straightening her gown.
Fully arrayed, Belinda emerges from her Chamber.
The Rape of the Lock as a mock - heroic poem:
A mock epic or mock – heroic poem is a kind of narrative poem which deals with a very
trivial theme in a lofty and grand style with a view to satirizing and reformation. It is
considered to be a ‘Parody of the epic’. Alexander Pope, the representative poet of the 18th
century in England, brought mock heroic poem to its highest peak of perfection in his
masterpiece The Rape of the Lock. A critical analysis of the theme and manner of the poem is
necessary to justify how far The Rape of the Lock is a model of mock epic. The mock heroic
quality of ‘The Rape of the Lock’ lies in the very beginning of the poem which parodies the
conventional epic invocation that we find in Homer’s lliad, Virgil’s Aenied and Milton’s
Paradise Lost. The opening lines echo classical epic:
‘What dire offence from am’rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing – this Verse to caryll, Muse! Is due;’
The statement of the central problem of the poem is presented in an epic manner. Belinda’s
dream reminds us of the Eve’s dream in Paradise Lost. If Eve dreams of Satan’s instigation,
Belinda dreams of Ariel’s advice and suggestion. The trait of the mock epic is that the theme
is very trivial and ridiculous. In lliad, Homer glorifies war and heroism, in Paradise Lost
Milton justifies the ways of God of Man but in The Rape of the Lock of hair from the
fashionable lady’s head, the quarrel and battle between the two opposite sexes. Instead of
genuine passions and deep thought, we found mock passions and artificial sentiments and
emotions in The Rape of the Lock. Another important aspect of a mock epic is its satiric and
moral tone and The Rape of the Lock satisfies the requirement completely. In the poetry Pope
attacks the so - called fashionable 18th century English society where young men and women
passed their time in making flirtations and false love, visiting club and park, drinking and
pleasure seeking. Pope exposes the ills and evils, faults and follies of his society. Pope uses
mock heroic aspects in handling the ‘machinery’ or supernatural elements in The Rape of the
Lock. In thus poem, Pope has used spirits such as Sylphs and Gnomes. They play various
functions and even take part in the battle of the mortals. In fact, his futile function of the
spirits cannot but mock us laugh.
There is also a mock epic quality in the presentation, description and allusion of combat and
battle that takes place between male and female sexes. The heroic bombast of the Baron must
parody Hectorian orations. Then the battle between the Beaux and the Belles is a right royal
Homeric battle, even the game of Ombre is a delicate parody of epical fights. Holden
observers this mock epic manner

Conclusion:
At last, I would like to conclude that The Rape of the Lock is the finest of all epic poems I
have ever read. It is mock heroic not only in content but also in its style.