The Scale of Values in Alexander Pope's Poem The Rape of the Lock
I found Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" a delightful, amusing poem. Throughout the poem, trivialities are compared with events and objects or consequence and the insignificant is treated with utmost importance. Its very title gives the reader an immediate clue; "rape" and all its connotations bring to mind a heinous crime of physical and spiritual violation. Perhaps this description could apply to the theft of a lock of hair, but only in a world where normal morals are perverted. This skewed scale of values is shown repeatedly throughout the poem, and supporting this alternate world are the sylphs. As the souls of former coquettes, the sylphs exist solely to preserve and perpetuate Belinda's beauty and coquetry. As I read the piece, I was delighted by the absurdity of Belinda's world and the effort expended by the sylphs in maintaining this environment of inconsequence.
Delightful in and of itself is the explanation of the sylph-forming process. Sylph Ariel says to Belinda, "Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, / That all her vanities at once are dead: / [...] The light coquettes in sylphs aloft repair" (1.52-53, 65). Thankfully, once a woman dies, the flirt lives on. We may all be assured of the miraculous triumph of the inconsequential. Ariel continues, "Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive, / And love of ombre, after death survive" (1.55-56). Pursuing these temporal pleasures is not the only pastime of the sylph; maintaining the coquettish way of life is equally important.
Ariel refers to Belinda as "Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished care/ Of thousand bright inhabitants of air" (1.27-28). Belinda is the center of the univers...
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...same time:
Oh, had I rather unadmired remained
In some lone isle, or distant northern land;
[...]
There kept my charms concealed from mortal eye,
Like roses that in deserts bloom and die. (3.153-158)
Such a romantic image: a beautiful young woman in isolation, with no one to appreciate that beauty (but no one to mar it, either).
Belinda, I suppose, learned to move past her life's tragedy, and hopefully thereafter her sylphs redoubled their efforts in guarding her locks. I liked this poem. I liked flamboyant exaggeration of little things and acts of little consequence, and the comparisons between things small and great. I enjoyed how the sylphs lived to perpetuate these ideas.
Works Cited
Pope, Alexander. "The Rape of the Lock". The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1993. 2234-2254.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "The Hurt Locker." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Twelfth ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 942. Print.
Many people agree that Sony’s Playstation 4 is better than Microsoft’s Xbox One and vice versa. I have been gaming since I was seven years old and still am today. The first gaming console I ever had was the original Xbox. Throughout the years though, technology has improved vastly. The last generation of game consoles gave the industry a much needed boost and gave the consumer another commodity. With the eighth generation of consoles just arriving, a lot of people are wondering which console to buy. There is, however, more than just the choice of games. There’s differences in processors, graphics cards, hard drives, design, operating systems, ports, versatility, stability, controllers, and, of course, the games.
Bibliography:.. Works Cited Meyer, M., Ed., (1999). Bedford Introduction to Literature, 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. : p. 78. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The "Scarlet Letter" The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed.
Goblin Market” was considered to be a fairy tale however the poem had various erotic exploration of sexual fantasy, commentary on capitalism and the Victorian market economy. It is also interpreted about temptation, yearnings and atonement. On the other hand, “The Rape of the Lock” commented on human vanity and the custom of romance as Pope inspected the abused position of women. He’d pointed out that society recognized the upper class in a serious manner however they are in a frivolous manner. He’d used the poem to mock the noble and their lifestyles. “Goblin Market” and “The Rape of the Lock” related to each other as both poems have a significance of victimhood and hair being cut off.
Jokinen, Anniina. "Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. N.p., 1996. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. http://www.luminarium.org/
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
This is added to by the fact that she is isolated from others. She lives in “a lonesome-looking place” with poplar trees around it that were also “lonesome-looking.” She has no visitors and does not visit others. This isolation is because of her husbands wishes. So not only does he not provide her with love or affection, he prevents her from getting companionship elsewhere.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print. The.
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
Did you know that “The Rape of the Lock” is such a famous poem that it even
I also relly like this poem. You make a good point as in reference to the sept sisters mutilating themselves in pursuit of the prince, "Barbie Doll" also touches on this. The part of your post that stood out most to me was when you mentioned the advice Cinderellas mother gave her and that you felt that her mother only wanted the best for Cinderella. I think that is part of what Sexton is saying, that parents are telling the daughters to be devout and good, and their sons to be useful, noble and strong and that these gender specific stereotypes start our children on a potentially dangerous road of self-doubt and false idea of happiness.
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
The Rape of the Lock deals with the issues of vanity, frivolity, conceit, pride and the indulgence of elite of the English society in trivial matters of love, romance, sexuality and flirtation. In the mock-...
"The Rape of the Lock." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt et