The Rape of the Lock Flashcards
What is the verse form of the epic?
the verse form is heroic couplets,rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter lines
this form dominated the period between 1660 and 1780
this suggests balance and harmony which is fitting for the moralizing premise of the poem.
couplets makes them especially good for comparisons and contrasts—the juxtaposition we know Pope is so keen on throughout the poem.
Pope outdoes the 2 families in what?
absurdity
How is Belinda associated from the start with hyperbole?
She is referred to habitually in terms which suggest purity,beauty and even divinty
“nymph,maid,the fair virgin,goddess”
What is the most profound metaphor that Pope employs
Presenting Belinda as a hero preparing for an epic battle
Why might a heroi-comical poem be a better description that that of a mock heroic?
mock herioc suggests that the poems main point is to mock epic,however any mockery of epic is not the main point.
Pope was instead juxtaposing the seriousness of epic with its battles in which matter of life and death are decided against the triviality of the subject matter of the poem
a quarrel over the loss of a lock of hair,a loss that in the scale of human suffering is decided minor
What does the heroi-comic exploit?
an incongruity between form and content
In this celebrated mock heroic the reader is….
transported into a world of delicate beauty and charm presided over by a group of delightful supernatural deities
What happens in each of the cantos
canto 1 = Belinda's bedroom canto 2= On the themes canto 3= The Baron removes the lock of hair Canto 4= journey to the cave of spleen Canto 5= Battle
What does the invocation from the muse establish the poems subject matter as?
specifically a “dire offence from disastrous causes” and the might contests rising from trivial things
What does Belinda’s dream in canto 1 provide
the mythic structure of the poem
Who is the Baron?
an admirees of Belinda and enacts the rape of the lock by cutting off one of the curls of her hair
based on Lord petre
Who is Clarissa?
Clarissa is one of the women in attendance at the Hampton Court party. She is complicit in the severing of Belinda’s hair, lending her sewing scissors to the Baron. She later delivers a moralizing sermon on the ephemeral nature of beauty and the importance of good sense once a woman’s looks have faded.
Who is Ariel?
Ariel is Belinda’s guardian Sylph. Once a coquettish woman during his human life, he is now an air spirit who protects virginal women with the aid of an army of Sylphs. Pope takes the sprite’s name from the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Who is Umbriel
Umbriel is a mischievous Gnome, who travels to the Cave of Spleen and returns with a bag of sighs and a vial of tears which he uses to intensify Belinda’s despair at the loss of her hair.
Who is Thalestris?
Thalestris is Belinda’s friend. She tries to convince Belinda to avenge the Baron’s affront to her honor and is the most vicious aggressor in the battle over the lock. Appropriately, Pope takes her name from an Amazonian Queen of Greek mythology
