This document provides background information on Alexander Pope and his poem "The Rape of the Lock". It discusses Pope's life, literary works, the Augustan literary period in England, and an overview of "The Rape of the Lock" as a mock heroic poem that satirized a feud between aristocratic families by using elements of classical epics. The background details Pope's intentions and the characters, places, sylphs, and card game referenced in his mock heroic poem.

1. Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock

2. LEQs
 What is the role and significance of style in
creating literature?
 How do writers use diction, imagery and tone
(especially humorous or ironic tone) to reveal
important political , social or economic
attitudes?

3. 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 mock-
heroic
 Financially independent through translations of the Iliad and
the Odyssey
 Died 1744, Twickenham

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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”

9. 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.”

10. “The Rape of the Lock”
Alexander Pope

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. Important Attributes
 Characters
 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
 The Mall
 Hampton Court
 The Ring
 Rosamonda’s Lake

16. 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

17. 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)