“The Rape Of The Lock” by“Alexander Pope”

Presented by Maryam BibiRoll no 14211502-005Program Bs English 5th

“Alexander Pope” An-Introduction

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet.

Born on 21 May 1688 at England.

He is best known for his satirical verse, as well as for his translation of Homer.

Best known for his An Essay on Criticism The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad.

Famous for his use of the heroic couplet.

Pope also use of classical genres ; epic, georgic, elegy and heroic epistle

Died on 30 May 1744.

About “The Rape Of The Lock” A mock epic  Social satire  The entire poem is written in five cantos, making use

of the popular rhymed iambic pentameter verse The story in poem is relatively simple. The poem deals with an actual event and thus pokes

fun at the two families, but more than that it shows the vanities of humankind.

Difference between Epic and Mock Epic

• Epic:“A long narrative poem about the actions of a great person.” Mock epic:“A long narrative poem which deals in a grand diction with trivial/ordinary themes and produces laughter.”

Heroic couplet and Iambic pentameter

Heroic couplet:Heroic couplet is a pair of rhymed lines with iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter:Iambic pentameter refers to a certain kind of line of poetry, and has to do with the number of syllables in the line, an unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables.

Example….

This nymph, to the destruction of mankind,Nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind

Summary of the Poem

The action completes in one single day in the life of fashionable recusants of London. Belinda gets up from bed at about noon and spends a few hours in ‘denting and painting’. She has to take part in a card game named ‘Ombre’ at Hampton Court Palace. She along with a number of young men and ladies undertake a boat journey in the river Tames to reach the destination in the north Bank. Ariel, the divine angel guesses some evil to happen on Belinda and engages his troop of Sylphs to guard Belinda’s possessions and honors. An adventurous youth Robert, Lord Petre is determined to steal Belinda’s tempting ‘Locks’ of hair. In the card game Belinda wins. This makes the Baron more adamant.

Clarisse hands over a pair of scissors to the Baron. The Baron stealthily cuts a lock from of hair from Belinda’s head. Discovering the theft, Belinda becomes utterly sorry. Clarisse tries to mollify her but fails. A gnome named Umbriel descends to the Underworld on Belinda’s behalf and obtains a bag of sighs and a vial of tears from the Queen of Spleen. With these magical gifts, he means to comfort poor Belinda. Grief overcomes her as her eyes half-drown in tears and her head droops upon her bosom. She resolves to fight against the Baron. She attacks the Baron with snuff and hair-pin etc. A fearful combat ensues. During the fight, the Baron loses the Lock. So he fails to return it. The poem, however, ends with a note of consolation to Belinda that her golden ‘Lock’ must have formed a constellation in the sky.

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Analysis of Canto 5

Canto 5 shows Umbriel casting the vial of sadness upon Belinda so that she is almost drowned in tears. She desires for simple, country life. Clarissa, the one who helped the Baron earlier in his successful risk, gives an interesting moral sermonette about self-importance and age and the need of women to use good sense in the battle of the genders. Soon a battle of teacups ensues, disturbed by the Baron’s sneezing from the snuff that he is using; this causes the lock to fly high into the air, never to be rescued. Some think that the lock has gone to the moon, where love letters and other love tokens find themselves eventually, but others think that the lock became a star.