supernatural machinery in the poem

8/10/2019 Supernatural Machinery in the Poem

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Supernatural Machinery in ,The Rape of the Lock

Introduction:-

Alexander pope occupies a unique place in the history of 18 th century littrateur. He was

recognized as the poet of a great nation for a gestation. He was born in 1688 the year of

the glorious revaluating the Augustan age of literature pope is the representative aput of

the classical age. !ts literarily "erits and defects are ali e conscious in his verse# and he

versifiers who "ay be said to belong to his school pope has been regard# the leader to the

classical school of poetry which extend fro" the restoration to the $rench revolution the

age of pope has been called the classical age in a restricted and li"ited sense.

%very national literature has at last one period in which an unusual nu"ber of grate

writes are producing boo s# and this is called to classic period of a nations literature thus

the reign of Augustus is the classic or golden age of &o"e. 'he gestation of (ante is the

classic age of !talian literature and the age of )ouis xiv is the fresh classic age. *f it is

inters sense that the age of %ngland. !t was the age of great writes in pros# poetry and

dra"a. +nee we have read na"es to adore Addison# swift# richer dons# ,fielding# ,s"allest

sterna# golds"ith dr. -ohnson bur e# gibbon an Alexander pope to na"e only farfel to the

great lu"inaries of the age. !n this sense it is called the classical age.

An epic or heroic poe" tells the story of hero whose actions have the national

i"portance. !t is a long narrative poe" written in an elevated style. Ho"er s /!liad and

odyssey are the best nown exa"ple of epic. Alexander pope wrote the the"e of the

rape of the loc is the cutting off a loc of a lady s hair this sub0ect is too trivial and too

low to find any epical of a heroic treat"ent what is there to be heroically about "e

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cutting off a lady s hair And yet pope gives to this absurdly ladinorous sub0ect the

dignity and exaltation of epic treat"ent. *ut of this trivial the"# pope spills out in a

"oc 2heroic style a poe" which Hazlet called. 'he perfection of the supernatural

"achinery.

'he use of supernatural "achinery is one of the salient features an epic and naturally.

A "oc epic too "ust have a "achinery various epic poets have presented the

supernatural beings under various na"es. 3irgil land devils. !n his "oc epic. 'he rape

of the loc # pope has used aerial sprits. 4ope has given vital role to the supernatural

"achinery which can be discussed as follows.

Use of supernatural machinery:-

'he use of supernatural "achinery is the co""on feature of the epic of ho"er and

vigil. 4ope introduced aerial spirits in the rape of the loc . His supernatural "achinery

is suitable to his "oc heroic style. 'he aerial spirits are there to tend guard and protect

5elinda fro" any danger. 'here are four ele"ents sylph# ny"phs# gno"es and

sala"anders. 'he sylphs live in the air.

4ope tells us n the first can to that beautiful wo"en return after their death. 3iolent

te"pered wo"en beco"e sala"anders of spirits of fire. o"en of pleasant and pleasing

nature beco"e ny"phs or water sprits proud wo"en beco"e gno"es or earth sprits.

)ight hearted coquettes are changed in to sylphs or spirits of the air.

7ylphs protect the young ladies fro" "ale. 'hey guard and save the chastity of

"aidens who are willing to surrender to their lovers. 'he earth spirits gno"es9 fill the

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"inds of the proud "aidens with foolish ideas Ariel is the chief of the sprits. He foresees

so"e cala"ity waiting for 5elinda. He warns her in drea" to beware of "en.

'he word "achinery has been defined by pope in dedication to ;rs. Arabella for"er

in the following way# traditional with all the epic poets of the past to introduce certain supernatural agents such

as foods and goddesses to en ho"e the appeal of their epic. Ho"er and 3irgil have their

gods and goddesses and tacos his angles in ;ilton the "achinery gains supervene

i"portance and the hu"an figures are reduces to the position of insignificant creaturesacting at the behest s of god 7tan# and other Angels.

!n the first version of the first version of the rape did not introduce any supernatural

"achinery in the second version of the poe" which was published in 1=1> in pope s

na"e. 'here was the introduction of supernatural "achinery. ?eorge Holden writs.

is pope use of this "achinery "oreover# which# "ore than any other singles feature "ade

the poe" the single success that it is@.

4ope s ob0ect in introducing the "achinery of sylphs and gno"es was to heighten the

"oc 2heroic effect of the poe" and at the sa"e ti"es reader it "ore i"personal in tone

and so less distasteful to "e fervor fa"ily. 4ope was right in his 0udg"ent because by the

introduction of the supernatural "achinery in the "oc heroic poe" he converted a "ere

squib# which was too free and personal into a "asterly and playful satire upon the follies

and frivolities of the fashionable young ladies of his ti"es.

4ope confesses that he ca"e across this "achinery in a $rench poe" called co"e he

goblins written by the be de "ention de villas and published in 1 =B. !n the boo pope

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found the "ention of the &osicrucian doctrine of spirits the &osicrucian s were a sect of

"ediaeval philosophers who appeared in ?er"any in the beginning of the 1= century.

Alluring to the" the four ele"ents fire water earth and air were inhabited by four inds

of points sala"ander ny"phs gno"es and sylphs respectively they had their origin fro"

the ele"ents of nature and their te"pera"ents were suited to their ele"ents. 'hey were

of both sexes but did ta e lively interest in the affairs of hu"an beings.

4ope adopted the &osicrucian doctrine of spirits and introduced the sylphs and

gno"es as the supernatural "achinery in the poe". 'he gross and "ysterious origin of

the spirits. He rather i"ported the platonic conception of the existence of the hu"ansouls in another state after the loss of the hu"an bodies and "ade the spirits lineal

descendants of the souls of wo"en continuing their old passions in their "ew aerial

for"s. He sub divided the spirits into various classes according to his needs so"e

wor ed in the region of the upper air


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'hey help 5elinda in her fascination. 'hey preside over the toilet save the powder fro"

too rude a gale steal fro" rainbows a brighter wash curl their waving hair petticoat aerial

is in charge and it is the function of aerial to protect the lap dog fro" har". 'he gno"es

also perfor" their part unburies gives. 'he vapors to 5elinda. 'he bag of signs sobs and

passions is poured over her and then he brea s the vial whence the sorrow flow thus the

gno"es and sylphs do not play any vital role in hu"an affairs they are si"ply the

protectors of hu"an beings beyond such delicate interventions thy do not affect the action

of the poe".

'he "achinery of the rape of the loc allowed pope to give his i"agination a full play. !t gave hi" DE unrivalled opportunity of indulging his descriptive powers. 'he

passage in which pope describe the sylphs in the !! canto is a true piece of description.

'he sylphs inhabit the air and the air is the ele"ents which colors every line of the

description.

He summons strait his denizens of air,

The lucid squadrons round the sails repair,

'he "achinery of the rape of the loc happy as it is was severely criticized by denials.

'he criticis" certainly hits so"e "inor defects in pope s poe". 'he author of the rape#

writes (ennis has run counter to this practice of the ancients and "oderns. He has not

ta en his "achinery fro" the religion of the ancients and "oderns. He has not ta en his

"achines fro" the religion of his country nor fro" any religion nor fro" "orality his

"achines contradict the doctrines of the Fhristian religion contradict all sound "orality

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there is no allegorical nor sensible "eaning in then# and for these reasons they give no

instructions "a e no i"pression at all upon the "ind of the sensible reader. !nstead of

"a ing the action wonderful and delightful. 'hey render it extravagant absurd and

incredible they do not in the least influence that action they neither prevent the dinger to

5elinda nor pronto it nor retard. !t unless# perhaps it "ay be said for one "o"ent which

is ridiculous and if it be here ob0ected that the author designed only to entertain and

a"use to that answer that for that very reason he ought to have ta en the ut"ost care to

write his poe" probable other defects in the "achinery pointed out by (ennis are that

there is no opposition of the "achines to one another there is not 0ust proportion betweentheir functions the spirits which he intends for benign once are "alignant and those which

he designs for "alignant use beneficent to "an ind the gno"es he intends for "alignant

and the sylphs for beneficent spirit now the sylphs in the poe" pro"ote that fe"ale

vanity which the gno"es "ortify.


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Detailed description:-

4ope gives a detailed description of the race of the supernatural beings and their

relationship to hu"an beings. 'his is done through the tow "oc heroic speeches of

Ariel. 'he spirits hover in the s y. 'hey are invisible to hu"an beings but always guide

their destiny. 'heir chief function is to protect the virgins fro" being spelt by lusty

"en. 'he sports were once the wo"en of the world. After the death of the wo"en their

souls 0oins the spirits. 4ope# though Ariel# reveals that the spirits of the vain glorious and

fashionable wo"en only beco"e he legiti"ate denizens of the air. 'he spirits of the

puritanical wo"en go to the down wor ed and beco"e the "iscues sports. 4ops calls

the" gno"es while he calls the spirits of the light heated flirts as sylphs all the spirits live

in the at"osphere close to the earth and protect the virgin "aidens.

The po er to ac!uire any shape:-

!t is the special characteristic of the spirits that they can acquire any shape and any sex

which they li e fly anywhere but are always in the serve of the young virgins. 'hey have

strange ways of protecting the young won. $or exa"ple if a "an desires to dance with a

wo"an in order to seduce her the spirits send another "ore handso"e "an with "ore

alluring offer and the for"er "an is thus re0ected. Ariel is the head of these spirits. He

within his fore nowledge of the futures warns 5elinda to be careful about the i"pending

disaster. e see Ariel ordering the various sylphs to protect 5elinda for" the future

cala"ity.

Their function:-

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!n the second canto Ariel elaborates the co"ic function of the various spirits. 'he

spirits have been assigned various functions to perfor". 7o"e of the" are highest up in

the pure region of ether. 'hese spirits control the "ove"ents of the stars the "oon and

other planets. *thers guide shooting star and control the rainbows. 'hey also control the

stor" and the destiny of the hu"an race. Ariel hi"self belongs to that group of spirits

who have the charge of protecting the fashionable and beautiful young wo"en.

"onclusion:-

!n this way we can say that#

supernatural machinery in the poem

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