The rhyming words, of course, are automatically highlighted by their rhyme. There are many ways in which Pope directs the reader’s attention to important words in his poetry. Pope uses the rhythm just as a musician would – for effect. On the rich Quilt sinks with be coming Wo. Now an example of a ten syllable line with a rhythm that is irregular: The two lines that follow are written in regular iambic rhythm (I have underlined the stressed syllables) Īnd sleepless Lovers, just at twelve, a wake. Iambic rhythm has a light syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm is iambic in music you would say there are two beats to the bar. The poem is written in rhyming couplets – heroic couplets – each line of verse being ten syllables long. Pope maintains that it is transformed into a constellation of stars it is also made famous for ever in his poem. Belinda becomes hysterical, Clarissa advocates good-humour, there’s a general commotion during the course of which the lock is lost. She wakes up, makes herself ready to go out and goes to Hampton Court where the Baron snips off a lock of her hair. Pope tells the story in the form of A Day in the Life of the Beautiful Belinda. In 1717 the final version was published, containing Clarissa’s speech in Canto V ‘to open more clearly the Moral of the poem’ as Pope’s editor, Warburton, claimed. A special edition was published at the same time on ‘a fine Royal Paper.’ A week after the 1714 edition had been published, Pope wrote to a friend that it had, ‘in four days time sold to the number three thousand, and is already reprinted tho’ not in so fair a manner as the first impression.’ Pope added a dedication to Arabella Fermor, in which he wrote: ‘ The Human Persons are as Fictitious as the Airy ones and the Character of Belinda, as it is now manag’d, resembles You in nothing but in Beauty.’ The 1714 edition included a plate for each canto by Louis Du Guernier, which was unusual for a book of verse. The motto this time was taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses 8, 151, ‘a tonso est hoc nomen adepta capillo’ meaning ‘acquired that name from the cut lock’. Pope added considerably to this version, which included amongst much else that was new, the sylphs, the gnomes, the dressing-table scene and the game of ombre. Pope wrote on 8 November 1712: “Sir Plume blusters, I hear nay, the celebrated lady herself is offended, and which is stranger, not at herself, but me.”ĭuring 1713, Pope recast the poem, adding considerably to it, so that when it was published on 4 March 1714 it was five cantos long rather than the initial two. In the 1712 version, Pope chose as a motto a quotation from Martial, Epigram 86, Book II: ‘Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos, / Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis.’ Translation: ‘It is not for me, Belinda, to lay violent hands upon your hair, but it delights me to pay you the tribute you have entreated.’ After the poem was published, the Fermors took against it. ‘A common acquaintance’, John Caryll, asked Pope to ‘write a poem to make a jest of it, and laugh them (the two families concerned) together again’. The Petres and the Fermors were now of course at loggerheads. A scandalous incident in high society had estanged two families who had formerly been friends: Lord Petre had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair. ‘The Rape of the Lock’ was published in May 1712 when Pope was just twenty-four he dashed off the first version in ‘less than a fortnight’s time’ at some point during 1711. Should you have any feedback to give, or corrections, then please contact me at: or at Introduction and Background I teach English at Tudor Hall School, Banbury, Oxon OX16 9UR, England. I have been much helped by the proof-reading of Susan Carrdus and by the technical expertise of Cezary Wasowski. The Oxford English Dictionary online is of course another excellent resource. ‘The Rape of the Lock’ edited by Cynthia Wall, Bedford Books, 1998, gives much valuable background and context.
#KITTY SPANGLES SOLITAIRE TORRENT FULL#
The edition edited by Frederick Ryland and published by Blackie & Son Limited is full of interesting information. J S Cunningham’s edition, published by Hodder, 1961, is still a classic. The Oxford Student Texts edition, edited by Elizabeth Gurr, OUP, 1990, is enormously helpful. The Routledge English Texts edition, edited by Geoffrey Tillotson, first published in 1941 by Methuen & Co Ltd, is invaluable. I have worked from various editions of ‘The Rape of the Lock’. As a commentary, it is simply one person’s response to the poem, which other readers may entirely disagree with.
This commentary on Alexander Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’ aims to make it as accessible and enjoyable as possible, at the same time containing rigorous analysis of the poetry.
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