THE RAPE OF LOCK BY ALEXANDER POPE INTRODUCTION

THE RAPE OF LOCK. BY ALEXANDER POPE.

INTRODUCTION; The Rape of the Lock is a mock-epic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque, it was first published anonymously in Lintott's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations (May 1712) in two cantos (334 lines); a revised edition "Written by Mr. Pope" followed in March 1714 as a five-canto version (794 lines) accompanied by six engravings. Pope boasted that this sold more than three thousand copies in its first four days. The final form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humor. The poem was much translated and contributed to the growing popularity of mock-epic in Europe.

Epic and Mock-epic; Epic and Mock epic or mock heroic styles are widely popular poetry genres. An epic is a long work in poetry that tells the story of a hero and his struggles; there is usually a journey and great battles. While mock-epic is poetry drawn heavily on the technique of satire, which means that it uses irony, exaggeration, and sarcasm to mock its original subject, usually in an undignified and grandiose manner. The poem. The Rape of the Lock has all the grandeur of an epic but instead of focusing on a heroic quest, the action focuses on a baron who steals a lock of hair from a lady, a far more trivial activity. The poem is a mock epic because it uses the epic form, a genre meant for serious subjects, such as the Trojan war in Homer's Iliad, and applies it to such a trivial issue as the loss of a lock of hair.

Description; The poem satirizes a small incident by comparing it to the epic world of the gods. It was based on an actual event recounted to the poet by Pope's friend. The poem's title does not refer to the extreme of sexual rape, but to an earlier alternative definition of the word derived from the Latin rapere (supine stem raptum), "to snatch, to grab, to carry off"—in this case, theft and carrying away of a lock of hair. In terms of the sensibilities of the age, however, even this non-consensual personal invasion might be interpreted as bringing dishonor.

Pope's poem uses the traditional high stature of classical epics to emphasis the triviality of the incident. The abduction of Helen of Troy becomes here theft of a lock of hair; the gods become minute sylphs; the description of Achilles shield becomes an excursus on one of Belinda's petticoats. He also uses the epic style of invocations, lamentations, exclamations and similes, and in some cases adds parody to imitation by following the framework of actual speeches in Homer's Iliad. Although the poem is humorous at times, Pope keeps a sense that beauty is fragile, and emphasizes that the loss of a lock of hair touches Belinda deeply. The humor of the poem comes from the storm in a teacup being couched within the elaborate, formal verbal structure of an epic poem. It is a satire on contemporary society which showcases the lifestyle led by some people of that age. Pope arguably satirizes it from within rather than looking down judgmentally on the characters. Belinda's legitimate rage is thus alleviated and tempered by her good humor, as directed by the character Clarissa.

Style and Structure; Burlesque literature is a form of satire.

Rhyme; Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in heroic couplets. A heroic couplet is a unit of two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter. The entire poem consists of one heroic couplet followed by another, as demonstrated by the first four lines of the poem: What dire offence from causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, . . . [First Couplet: springs and things rhyme] I sing—This verse to CARYL, Muse! is due: This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view. . . . [Second Couplet: due and view rhyme]

Theme; The “ The Rape of the lock” written by Alexander Pope is a humorous indictment of the vanities and idleness of 18 th century high society. Based on a real incident among families of his acquaintances , Pope intended his verses to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own. The opening of the Rape of the lock establishes the poem’s mock-heroic or mock- epic tone. In the tradition of epic poetry, pope opens the poem by invoking a muse but rather than invoke one of the mythic Greek muses pope leaves the muse anonymous and instead dedicates the poem to John Caryll , the man who commissioned the poem.

Conclusion; The Rape of the Lock is a heroic-comic poem. A successful heroic-comic or mock-heroic poem meant in our days of Pope than it can possibly mean in our days. The men of letters of that age knew and revered the classics much more than what we of modern time consider to be worth our while to know or revere. Not only in the main framework but in numerous details there are so many points of similarity intentionally introduced between the old epics and the new satiric poems that to appreciate them fully is a difficult task today. The Rape of the Lock has been rightly called by Ryland “a mosaic of quotation, parodies and allusions derived from the masters of epic and narrative poetry”. “Homer and Virgil dip forth at almost every other line ; Milton and Ovid are not less persistent. ” The very opening of the poem is in the approved classical manner ; the turn of expressions used reminds us of the epic masters. The description of the functions of the sylphs and nymphs takes us back to Homer, Virgil and Milton. The ‘Machinery’, Pope reminds us, is an essential part of the epic and so he cannot do without one suitable to his mock- heroic poem. The Cave of Spleen is a reminiscence of the grotto of Circe. The heroic bombast of the Baron and parodies of Hectorian orations. 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. “It would be almost true to say”, observes Holden, “that in this hero-comical poem it is the comical part which most appeal to us, as the heroic part did to our ancestors. ” The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic poem that is to say a poem in which trivial things are mocking treated in a heroic (or exalted) manner. The heroic or epic style is imitated. But a mock-heroic is not merely a parody of the epic; in a mock heroic poem trivial things and incidents, which are just the reverse of the heroic presented in a heroic manner, so that while the heroic is not degraded, the trivial things are shown by comic contrast in all their triviality. The ‘clouded cane’ as compared with the Horneric ‘spear’ indicates the difference of scale the lower plane of the mock-heroic style. Hazlitt observes : “No pains are spared, no profusion of ornament, no splendor of poetic diction, to set off the meanest thing. The balance between the concealed irony and the assumed gravity is nicely trimmed, the little is made great and the great made little. It is the perfection of the mock-heroic. ” Thus in The Rape of the Lock the poet has heightened the little, exalted the insignificant, in order to make the little and the insignificant look more ridiculous. He employs the mock-heroic form, not to mock the epic form, but to show the triviality of mean things by contacting them with great things. This is the true mock-heroic style.