Poetry (12) Last 2nd year 2nd term Dr:Hessa
"The rape of the lock" Alexander Pope
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The Rape of the Lock was written at the request of John Caryl, a Catholic man of letters and Pope's lifelong friend and correspondent. In the year 1711, Robert, Lord Petre (the Baron of the poem), a relative of Caryl's, caused a serious quarrel by the theft of a lock of Miss Arabella Fermor's hair (Pope's Belinda) in the poem. Caryl requested a jesting poem to laugh the families out of their anger.
Who are the neo-classical poets?
Alexander Pope is one of the neo-classical poets. The neo- classical poets are the poets who are influenced by the classical trends by reading the masterpieces of the Latin and translating it and they believed that the classical way of writing is the best model to be followed. They had different characteristics, as they believed that the best rule should be taken from nature as it provides man with all the good rules as nature is not walking haphazardly but by rules. They used to wrote universal ideas and believed that the perfection of art by following the rules of writing structure, grammar, and meter, so they were seeking for correctness.
Alexander Pope is the father of the neo- classical; he has many critical writings about man. Here, he tried to write epic, which has to be about heroes and heroic events and there must be a tragic fall of the hero, as he is a human being with mistakes. He imitates the classic by writing the epic but the occasion of the story is very different. It tries to reflect the behavior of the ladies at that time as they were interested in parties, dancing, playing piano, and getting married by trying to hunt husbands.
The story is about lord loving Blinda " the heroine' and he cut the lock of her hair as she does not want to love him, so there was a war between the two families. He wrote this poem to make a funny situation, trying to breach this gap between the two families and to satirize the life of the aristocratic class, to reflect their mistakes that they have to be noticed and passed it. They should try to find some thing useful in their life besides the parties.
Rape is a very serious act as the family considered it very sad event, the thing which reflects their triviality. He used the epic form to mock this triviality of that time.
The poet used the epic machine .it is a tragic hero, but here heroine, and she is supposed to be tragic , but different tragic as the tragic incidents here is about the falling of the hair, and the battle is between the ladies to win husband.
He used all the characteristics of the epic but to mock, the epics always have a god and a goddess, and super natural elements. Here the poet invented the help of "fairies" sylphs", small tiny airy are supposed to help the heroine Blinda, they help her to be the most beautiful one by bringing her the cosmetics, jewelry, dresses, and perfumes. The name of their leader is called Ariel , he is taking the most important procedure with Blinda. Ariel is taking care of her dog which wake her up every day after 12 clock as she has no thing to do. Hence, it is called mock-heroic epic where he is satirizing the age of this time using the characteristics to give importance to this trivial subject.
"The rape of the lock" Alexander Pope
Stanza 1:
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
2What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
3I sing--This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
4This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
5Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
6If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
He uses the classical division using the same procedures of the classical poets starting the poem telling what he is going to say. In the first two lines, he tries to invoke the muse of the reader by telling the reader what he is going to say, the main theme, or the purpose of the poem. Then, he mentions the love relation between Blinda and her lover, which is serious matter that caused problem that is a trivial incident. He describes Blinda's beauty. He describes how she is helped by the fairies"| sylphs" who are the inhabitants of the air.
Stanza 2:
Know further yet; whoever fair and chaste
Rejects mankind, is by some sylph embrac'd:
For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.
What guards the purity of melting maids,
In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,
Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring spark,
The spirits who are free from mortal laws and take the shape of any thing, they helps her in any thing. She wants to be the most beautiful one.
Stanza 3:
Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.
Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
saw, alas! some dread event impend,
Ere to the main this morning sun descend,
But Heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where:
Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware!
This to disclose is all thy guardian can.
Beware of all, but most beware of man!"
Here Ariel is talking who says that he is one of these fairies" sylphs" who protects her and advises her as a guardian of her to be a ware of all but mostly of man.
Stanza 4:
He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,
Leap'd up, and wak'd his mistress with his tongue.
'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true,
Thy eyes first open'd on a billet-doux;
Wounds, charms, and ardors were no sooner read,
But all the vision vanish'd from thy head.
Shock' her dog" wakes her up and check the letters as apart of the battle , she checks how many love letters she received, she reads about her charm , then, she starts to wake up really and be aware.
Stanza 5:
And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd,
Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
First, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores
With head uncover'd, the cosmetic pow'rs.
A heav'nly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side,
Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here
The various off'rings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the goddess with the glitt'ring spoil.
This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The tortoise here and elephant unite,
Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white.
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, *****es, bibles, billet-doux.
After wakening, she goes to the toilet to fix herself, as the maids unveiled it the moment. She wakes up to robe her in white and decorate her dress and reveal the power of the cosmetic to be beautiful. In the mirror she appears a heavenly image as an angel. There are different slaves helping her, the priestess is one of her maids which supports her with heavenly spiritual image, the thing which reflects the idea that her toilet is like a place in a church" altar", this to make seriousness out of a trivial situation. With trembling hand, they work in her, as they are worried if doing some thing wrong. Then, the poet says that she is confident to the extent being a pride which is considered a sin. From each treasure, she takes some thing support her beauty to be like a goddess. Then she wears the jewelry coming from India and from another box, another Arabian perfume appears. The poet mentions tortoise and elephant trying to criticize her.
Then he mentioned the ****************************s on her table," puffs, powders…", and to give importance to the situation, he mentions the word Bible, and there is alliteration in "puffs, powder…" As the words starts equally with the sound "p".
Stanza 6:
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
Repairs her smiles, awakens ev'ry grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy Sylphs surround their darling care;
These set the head, and those divide the hair,
Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown;
And Betty's prais'd for labours not her own.
A dangerous beauty appears, here, there is a paradox in the two words "beauty ad awful". With her arms, she goes into the battle, the arms showing seriousness to the situation, this very different battle. Then, the poet reflects her while she looks at the mirror to see how beautiful she is. The unnaturalness not only in her appearance looking but also in her behavior as she is trying to see how she will act. Now she is satisfied with her blushing and her lightening eyes. Now all the sylphs helping her to put the last touch at her wholly. Now she is prepared for the battlefield.
How dare this lover cut her hair, so he is making fun from the behavior of this time and its triviality. The lock of her is very precious as it takes along time to prepare it as it is apart of her arms. The word rape is very serious word, so the trivial and seriousness are going side by side in the poem as the poet used serious words and way of writing to express the triviality.
Meaning of mock- heroic
Mock-heroic or heroic-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works invert the heroic work by either putting a fool in the role of the hero or by exaggerating the heroic qualities to such a point that they become absurd.
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