Discuss Alexander Popes The Rape Of The Lock as a Mock...

One of the finest examples of mock heroic poetry in the English language was composed after John Caryll, a friend of Popes, informed the poet of an incident regarding two land owning, Catholic families, the Petres the Fermors. The young lord Petre had cut off a lock of hair from the fashionable society lady Arabella Fermor, and both she and her family had taken offence. Caryll suggested that Pope should write a poem to to make a jest of it, and laugh them together again. The result was the publication of The Rape of the Lock, in May 1712. However due to a favourable reaction, Pope published an expanded version in 1714, containing the card battle, the Cave of Spleen and the major addition of the supernatural elements that pope refers†¦show more content†¦Here the Barons sacrifice to the heavenly powers is comically reminiscent of the sacrifices and prayers made before battle by epic heroes. Ariel, meanwhile, is concerned at the prospect of impending woe, and summons his deni zers of air to heighten the security around Belinda. He commands the squadrons of Sylphs to repair to their various charges, especially to the heroines mock epic shield: To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special Note, We trust th important Charge the Petticoat. (117-118) The variety of disasters ominously threatened is comic in itself but also contains some moral point. The moral and the spiritual, the physical and material, the serious and less serious are comically joined and wittily expressed through the zeugma. They all seem to have the same value, as if to suggest that in Belindas world there is no proper moral hierarchy or fixed moral certainties. This joining also stresses a serious perspective - the triviality and ridiculing of the beau monde in general in which ethical values are as lasting as the latest fashion, and the characters of the poem in particular, who have allowed a trivial incident to be blown out of proportion (Sanders.2004:294). Canto 3 discovers our heroine and hero socialising at Hampton court. They play a fashionable game of ombre wittingly conceived as a mock heroic battle within the larger mock epic war in which Belinda is triumphant. The epic parallel serves to put a perspective upon the importance attached toShow MoreRelatedRape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Essay596 Words   |  3 PagesRape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock is not studied and admired only because of its style and form, but also for its base content and underlying themes. Popes ability to manipulate text into mock-heroic form, constructing a flow of satirical description is what makes this poem one of such quality. The piece was first published in 1712 by the request of Popes friend, John Caryll. It was to make peace between the Fermors and Petres, two prominent Roman