The Rape of the Lock

[
Aubrey Beardsley for "The Rape of the Lock"] "The Rape of the Lock" is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in "Lintot's Miscellany" in May 1712 in two cantos (334 lines), but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope's name on March 2 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version (794 lines).

The Poem

The poem satirises a petty squabble by comparing it to the epic world of the gods. It was based on an incident recounted by Pope's friend, John Caryll. Arabella Fermor and her suitor, Lord Petre, were both from aristocratic Catholic families at a period in England when Catholicism was legally proscribed. Petre, lusting after Arabella, had cut off a lock of her hair without permission, and the consequent argument had created a breach between the two families. Pope wrote the poem at the request of friends in an attempt to "comically merge the two." He utilised the character Belinda to represent Arabella and introduced an entire system of "sylphs," or guardian spirits of virgins, a parodic version of the gods and goddesses of conventional epic.

Pope’s poem mocks the traditions of classical epics: the rape of Helen of Troy becomes here the theft of a lock of hair; the gods become minute sylphs; Aeneas’ voyage up the Tiber becomes Belinda’s voyage up the Thames, and the description of Achilles’ shield becomes one of Belinda’s petticoat. 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 extremely funny at times, Pope always keeps a sense that beauty is fragile, and that the loss of a lock of hair touches Belinda deeply. As his introductory letter makes clear, women in that period were essentially supposed to be decorative rather than rational, and the loss of beauty was a serious matter.

The humour of the poem comes from the tempest in a teapot of vanity being couched within the elaborate, formal verbal structure of an epic poem. When the Baron, for example, goes to snip the lock of hair, Pope says,

: "The Peer now spreads the glittering Forfex wide,": "T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.": "Ev'n then, before the fatal Engine clos'd,": "A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;": "Fate urged the Sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain,": "(But Airy Substance soon unites again)": "The meeting Points the sacred Hair dissever": "From the fair Head, for ever and for ever!":: — Canto III

Using epic battle imagery to describe a small pair of ladies' scissors satirises the ridiculous nature of the whole situation.

Three of Uranus's moons are named after characters from "The Rape of the Lock": Belinda, Umbriel, and Ariel, the last name also (previously) appearing in Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

Dedicatory Letter

Pope added to the second edition the following dedicatory letter:

"To Mrs. Arabella Fermor"

"Madam,"

"It will be in vain to deny that I have some regard for this piece, since I dedicate it to You. Yet you may bear me witness, it was intended only to divert a few young Ladies, who have good sense and good humour enough to laugh not only at their sex's little unguarded follies, but at their own. But as it was communicated with the air of a secret, it soon found its way into the world. An imperfect copy having been offered to a Bookseller, you had the good nature for my sake to consent to the publication of one more correct: This I was forced to, before I had executed half my design, for the Machinery was entirely wanting to complete it. "

"The Machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the Critics, to signify that part which the Deities, Angels, or Dæmons are made to act in a poem: For the ancient poets are in one respect like many modern ladies: let an action be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the utmost importance. These Machines I determined to raise on a very new and odd foundation, the Rosicrucian doctrine of Spirits. "

"I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady; but 'tis so much the concern of a poet to have his works understood and particularly by your sex, that you must give me leave to explain two or three difficult terms."

"The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The best account I know of them is in a French book called Le Comte de Gabalis, which both in its title and size is so like a novel, that many of the fair sex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen, the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The Gnomes or Dæmons of Earth delight in mischief; but the Sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are the best-conditioned creatures imaginable. For they say, any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition very easy to all true adepts, an inviolate preservation of Chastity."

"As to the following Cantos, all the passages of them are as fabulous as the Vision at the beginning or the Transformation at the end; (except the loss of your Hair, which I always mention with reverence). The human persons are as fictitious as the airy ones, and the character of Belinda, as it is now managed, resembles you in nothing but in Beauty. "

"If this poem had as many graces as there are in your person, or in your mind, yet I could never hope it should pass through the world half so uncensured as you have done. But let its fortune be what it will, mine is happy enough, to have given me this occasion of assuring you that I am, with the truest esteem,"

"Madam,"

"Your most obedient, Humble Servant,"

"A. Pope"

Other uses

Sophie Gee, who edited a 2007 Vintage edition of the Rape, with Audrey Beardsley's illustrations, wrote a novel "The Scandal of the Season" which is a fictionalized account of the events surrounding Pope's composition of the poem.

External links

* [http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Pope.html "The Rape of the Lock:" Study Guide With Complete Text and Detailed Explanatory Notes]
*