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Alexander Pope - The Rape of The Lock

Pope satirizes a petty quarrel between two aristocratic families in his mock-heroic poem, The Rape of the Lock. The poem uses an exaggerated epic style to recount the "great contest" that arose from the trivial theft of a lock of hair from a young lady. Through this parody of classical epics, Pope aimed to make light of the dispute and end the real-world fighting between the families, though it initially had the opposite effect. The poem follows the conventions of epics through its invocation to the muse and statement of theme, but applies them to the mundane event in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

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447 views11 pages

Alexander Pope - The Rape of The Lock

Pope satirizes a petty quarrel between two aristocratic families in his mock-heroic poem, The Rape of the Lock. The poem uses an exaggerated epic style to recount the "great contest" that arose from the trivial theft of a lock of hair from a young lady. Through this parody of classical epics, Pope aimed to make light of the dispute and end the real-world fighting between the families, though it initially had the opposite effect. The poem follows the conventions of epics through its invocation to the muse and statement of theme, but applies them to the mundane event in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

Uploaded by

Hessa Sul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

ALEXANDER POPE
1712-4
18th Century: The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason:


“Not an age of conflict, but of balance”

1. Industrial Revolution: (Historical Context)

a. Trade flourished

b. No Problems between King and Parliament

c. Urbanity

d. The comfortable town was preferred to the wild mountains


18th Century: The Age of Reason = The Classical Age

2. The spirit of the period was classical: (Social and Literary Context)

 They turned to the classical Roman and Greek literature

1. Order was important in men’s thoughts

2. Social conventions are more important than individual convictions

3. Form is more important than content

4. Avoided the wild exuberance (liveliness) of the Elizabethan poets

5. Reason is more important than emotion


18th Century: The Age of Reason = The Classical Age

 Pope is regarded as the greatest poet of the Classical Age.

 He attained perfection in the heroic couplet, following in the footsteps of John


Dryden, who established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English poetry.

 An Essay On Criticism

 His first major poem: Provides instructions on the art of writing good poetry.

What the weak head with strongest bias rules,


Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

A little learning is a dangerous thing;


The Rape of the Lock = The Stealing of the Hair

Form:
Mock-heroic epic or mock-epic : The humor is in the difference between the trivial subject
and formal classical style. (Satire or Parody)

Plot:
The theft of a curl from the hair of a young lady of fashion and the two families fight
violently.

Objective:

Pope tried to end the quarrel by writing his heroic poem, exaggerating every detail of the
event, but he only made the fight worse.
Arabella Fermor Lord Petre
Canto 1
Miss Fermor
Epigraph
Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos;
Sedjuvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis.
- Martial (Roman Poet)
Miss Fermor

“I did not want, Belinda, to violate your locks, but it pleases me to have
paid this tribute to your prayers.”

Explanation of why he
Translation
wrote the poem : for
her and other ladies to
laugh at this situation
Canto 1
Terrible Love

Serious! What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,


Allusion to Greek
What mighty contests rise from trivial things, mythology

I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due: Mock-epic


1
Invocation to This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
himself to Give
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
sing instead
of a muse If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
Belinda’s
2 view inspires
Poem 3 him
inspired by a Dedicated to
Coquette, She’s really
his friend, beautiful
not a Muse John Caryll
Canto 1

Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel


2
A well-bred lord t' assault a gentle belle?
Theme
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?

Chiasmus

Chiasmus is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal
of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect.
Structure and Form:
 5 cantos
 Rhyming couplets

Tone:
mocking, satirical  poking fun at grand epics & a society woman’s lock being stolen.

Epic Conventions:
1- Begins with a statement or theme.
2- Begins with an invocation to a muse.
References

 Thornley, G. C. and Gwyneth Roberts. An Outline of English Literature. Longman,


1984.

 Burgess, Anthony. English Literature. Longman, 1980.

 Allison, Alexander. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Norton, 1983. 

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