Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock
Pope’s Life
 Born May 21, 1688 (Restoration), London
 Crippled at 12; hunchback
 Never married, but involved with two women in his life
 Martha Blount and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
 Never formally educated because he was Catholic
 Gained an appreciate for the classics and writing
 Conformed to strict writing rules
 Greatest work (at 24) was The Rape of the Lock, a mockheroic
 Financially independent through translations of the Iliad and
the Odyssey
 Died 1744, Twickenham
Pope’s Writing
 First Period
 Pastorals—1709
 Two most important poems were Essay on Criticism
(1711) and The Rape of the Lock (1714)
 Second Period
 Iliad translation (1715)
 Odyssey translation (1726)
 Third Period
 Dunciad (1728)
 Essay on Man (1734)
18th Century Background
 Augustan Age (1660-1780)
 Bracketed between “rigid scholarship” of the 17th cent.
and scientific/religious skepticism of the 19th cent.
 Interest in society, and self as part of society
 All aspects—politician to servant—examined
 Satirized ruthlessly
 Writer depended on patron, but could also be
independent
 Printing press came of age
 Expanding, healthy economy
 Civilized society = London; exotic ideas admired
Literary Background
 Augustan Age (1660-1780)
 Basic rule—man had to follow “Nature”
 The pure standards of taste and judgment that should
control man’s artistic endeavors
 Knowledge of classics and former civilizations
 Strict adherence of rules and regulations
 Heroic couplets (suitable for lofty themes)
 Art subservient to Nature
 Also called Reason and Common Sense
 Formalism stifled freedom of expression
 Various forms: mock epic, ode, epistle, and epigram
Pope’s Methods
 Pope and the 18th Century
 No advantage of vernacular speech, but he used
colloquialisms
 Mature outlook, poise and control, careful judgment
 Exposed shallow flaws in society
 Imitation
 Re-creation of a work
 Pope translated old into Augustan phraseology
Pope’s Methods
 Pope and Society
 Poked fun at society, e.g. The Rape of the Lock
 Commentary on British legal system
 Biting satire against others
 Pope and the Classics
 Looked to Homer (favorite) and French classicism
 Pope and Didactic Poetry
 Teach lessons to society
 “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” and “A little
learning is a dangerous thing”
Pope’s Methods
 Pope and Poetic Form
 Heroic couplet
 “Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;
But vindicate the ways of God to Man.”
“The Rape of the Lock”
Alexander Pope
Satire & the Mock Heroic
 SATIRE: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the
like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice,
folly, etc.
 MOCK HEROIC is a form of satire that adapts the
elevated heroic style of the classical epic poem
to a trivial subject.
The Epic Conventions
• High formal diction
• Invocation of the Muse
• “machinery” (i.e. gods or supernatural figures)
• Gods speak to hero in a dream
• The arming of the hero
• Sacrifice to the gods
• Exhortation of the general to the troops
• Catalog of the armies
• Battle scenes
• Descent into the underworld
• Intercession of the gods
• Ascension of the dead into the heavens
Background
 Refashioned like Virgil’s Aeneid or Homer’s
Odyssey
 Pope had three aims:
 Patch a feud between two well-known families (a
lock of hair was stolen)
 Ridicule the shallowness and useless frivolity in the
upper class
 Make fun of the epic conventions
Historical Background
Three prominent Roman Catholic families: the
Carylls, the Fermors, and the Petres.
 Fermors had a daughter, Arabella.
 Petres had a son, Lord Petre.
 Lord Petre cut off a lock of Arabella’s hair as a joke,
causing the bitter quarrel.
 John Caryll asked Pope if he would write a poem to
heal the breach.
Important Attributes
 Characters
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Belinda (Arabella Fermor)
The Baron or Lord (Robert, Lord Petre of Essex)
The Muse (John Caryll)
Sir Plume (Sir George Browne)
Thalestris, an Amazon (Lady Browne)
Clarissa (?)
 Places
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The Mall
Hampton Court
The Ring
Rosamonda’s Lake
Important Attributes
 Use of sylphs
 Part of the “epic machinery”
 Borrowed from the classics
 The game of Ombre
 Structure of the poem
 Five cantos (sections)
 Regular rhyming couplets
Research (due 12/12)
 Sylphs, salamanders, undines, gnomes and their
connection to Paracelsus
 The game of Ombre
 Extra Credit: Learn how to play and teach us
 Mock epic, ode, epistle, and epigram
 Heroic couplets
 Patron of the arts (FYI: Latin, patronus)