The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems by Alexander Pope

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If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.

Pope's statement in the dedication that he had been forced into
publishing the first draft of the poem before his design of enlarging it
was half executed is probably to be taken, like many of his statements,
with a sufficient grain of salt. Pope had a curious habit of protesting
that he was forced into publishing his letters, poems, and other
trifles, merely to forestall the appearance of unauthorized editions. It
is more likely that it was the undoubted success of 'The Rape of the
Lock' in its first form which gave him the idea of working up the sketch
into a complete mock-heroic poem.

Examples of such a poem were familiar enough to Pope. Not to go back to
the pseudo-Homeric mock epic which relates the battle of the frogs and
mice, Vida in Italy and Boileau in France, with both of whom Pope, as
the 'Essay on Criticism' shows, was well acquainted, had done work of
this kind. Vida's description of the game of chess in his 'Scacchia
Ludus' certainly gave him the model for the game of ombre in the third
canto of 'The Rape of the Lock'; Boileau's 'Lutrin' probably suggested
to him the idea of using the mock-heroic for the purposes of satire.

Now it was a dogma of the critical creed of the day, which Pope devoutly
accepted, that every epic must have a well-recognized "machinery."
Machinery, as he kindly explained to Miss Fermor, was a "term invented
by the critics to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons
are made to act in a poem," in short for the whole supernatural element.
Such machinery was quite wanting in the first draft of the Rape; it must
be supplied if the poem was to be a true epic, even of the comic kind.
And the machinery must be of a nature which would lend itself to the
light satiric tone of the poem. What was it to be? The employment of
what we may call Christian machinery, the angels and devils of Tasso and
Milton, was, of course, out of the question. The employment of the
classic machinery was almost as impossible. It would have been hard for
such an admirer of the classics as Pope to have taken the deities of
Olympus otherwise than seriously. And even if he had been able to treat
them humorously, the humor would have been a form of burlesque quite at
variance with what he had set out to accomplish. For Pope's purpose,
springing naturally from the occasion which set him to writing the
'Rape', was not to burlesque what was naturally lofty by exhibiting it
in a degraded light, but to show the true littleness of the trivial by
treating it in a grandiose and mock-heroic fashion, to make the quarrel
over the stolen lock ridiculous by raising it to the plane of the epic
contest before the walls of Troy.

In his perplexity a happy thought, little less in fact than an
inspiration of genius, came to Pope. He had been reading a book by a
clever French abbe treating in a satiric fashion of the doctrines of the
so-called Rosicrucians, in particular of their ideas of elemental
spirits and the influence of these spirits upon human affairs. Here was
the machinery he was looking for made to his hand. There would be no
burlesque in introducing the Rosicrucian sylphs and gnomes into a
mock-heroic poem, for few people, certainly not the author of the 'Comte
de Gabalis', took them seriously. Yet the widespread popularity of this
book, to say nothing of the existence of certain Rosicrucian societies,
had rendered their names familiar to the society for which Pope wrote.
He had but to weave them into the action of his poem, and the brilliant
little sketch of society was transformed into a true mock-epic.

The manner in which this interweaving was accomplished is one of the
most satisfactory evidences of Pope's artistic genius. He was proud of
it himself. "The making the machinery, and what was published before,
hit so well together, is," he told Spencer, "I think, one of the
greatest proofs of judgment of anything I ever did." And he might well
be proud. Macaulay, in a well-known passage, has pointed out how seldom
in the history of literature such a recasting of a poem has been
successfully accomplished. But Pope's revision of 'The Rape of the Lock'
was so successful that the original form was practically done away with.
No one reads it now but professed students of the literature of Queen
Anne's time. And so artfully has the new matter been woven into the old
that if the recasting of 'The Rape of the Lock' were not a commonplace
even in school histories of English literature, not one reader in a
hundred would suspect that the original sketch had been revised and
enlarged to more than twice its length. It would be an interesting task
for the student to compare the two forms printed in this edition, to
note exactly what has been added, and the reasons for its addition, and
to mark how Pope has smoothed the junctures and blended the old and the
new. Nothing that he could do would admit him more intimately to the
secrets of Pope's mastery of his art.

A word must be said in closing as to the merits of 'The Rape of the
Lock' and its position in English literature. In the first place it is
an inimitable picture of one phase, at least, of the life of the time,
of the gay, witty, heartless society of Queen Anne's day. Slowly
recovering from the licentious excesses of the Restoration, society at
this time was perhaps unmoral rather than immoral. It was quite without
ideals, unless indeed the conventions of "good form" may be dignified by
that name. It lacked the brilliant enthusiasm of Elizabethan times as
well as the religious earnestness of the Puritans and the devotion to
patriotic and social ideals which marked a later age. Nothing, perhaps,
is more characteristic of the age than its attitude toward women. It
affected indeed a tone of high-flown adoration which thinly veiled a
cynical contempt. It styled woman a goddess and really regarded her as
little better than a doll. The passion of love had fallen from the high
estate it once possessed and become the mere relaxation of the idle
moments of a man of fashion.

In the comedies of Congreve, for example, a lover even if honestly in
love thinks it as incumbent upon him to make light of his passion before
his friends as to exaggerate it in all the forms of affected compliment
before his mistress.

In 'The Rape of the Lock' Pope has caught and fixed forever the
atmosphere of this age. It is not the mere outward form and
circumstance, the manners and customs, the patching, powdering, ogling,
gambling, of the day that he has reproduced, though his account of these
would alone suffice to secure the poem immortality as a contribution to
the history of society. The essential spirit of the age breathes from
every line. No great English poem is at once so brilliant and so empty,
so artistic, and yet so devoid of the ideals on which all high art
rests. It is incorrect, I think, to consider Pope in 'The Rape of the
Lock' as the satirist of his age. He was indeed clever enough to
perceive its follies, and witty enough to make sport of them, but it is
much to be doubted whether he was wise enough at this time to raise his
eyes to anything better. In the social satires of Pope's great admirer,
Byron, we are at no loss to perceive the ideal of personal liberty which
the poet opposes to the conventions he tears to shreds. Is it possible
to discover in 'The Rape of the Lock' any substitute for Belinda's
fancies and the Baron's freaks? The speech of Clarissa which Pope
inserted as an afterthought to point the moral of the poem recommends
Belinda to trust to merit rather than to charms. But "merit" is
explicitly identified with good humor, a very amiable quality, but
hardly of the highest rank among the moral virtues. And the avowed end
and purpose of "merit" is merely to preserve what beauty gains, the
flattering attentions of the other sex,--surely the lowest ideal ever
set before womankind. The truth is, I think, that 'The Rape of the Lock'
represents Pope's attitude toward the social life of his time in the
period of his brilliant youth. He was at once dazzled, amused, and
delighted by the gay world in which he found himself. The apples of
pleasure had not yet turned to ashes on his lips, and it is the poet's
sympathy with the world he paints which gives to the poem the air, most
characteristic of the age itself, of easy, idle, unthinking gayety. We
would not have it otherwise. There are sermons and satires in abundance
in English literature, but there is only one 'Rape of the Lock'.

The form of the poem is in perfect correspondence with its spirit. There
is an immense advance over the 'Essay on Criticism' in ease, polish, and
balance of matter and manner. And it is not merely in matters of detail
that the supremacy of the latter poem is apparent. 'The Rape of the
Lock' is remarkable among all Pope's longer poems as the one complete
and perfect whole. It is no mosaic of brilliant epigrams, but an organic
creation. It is impossible to detach any one of its witty paragraphs and
read it with the same pleasure it arouses when read in its proper
connection. Thalestris' call to arms and Clarissa's moral reproof are
integral parts of the poem. And as a result, perhaps, of its essential
unity 'The Rape of the Lock' bears witness to the presence of a power in
Pope that we should hardly have suspected from his other works, the
power of dramatic characterization. Elsewhere he has shown himself a
master of brilliant portraiture, but Belinda, the Baron, and Thalestris
are something more than portraits. They are living people, acting and
speaking with admirable consistency. Even the little sketch of Sir Plume
is instinct with life.

Finally 'The Rape of the Lock', in its limitations and defects, no less
than in its excellencies, represents a whole period of English poetry,
the period which reaches with but few exceptions from Dryden to
Wordsworth. The creed which dominated poetic composition during this
period is discussed in the introduction to the Essay on Criticism, (see
p. 103) and is admirably illustrated in that poem itself. Its repression
of individuality, its insistence upon the necessity of following in the
footsteps of the classic poets, and of checking the outbursts of
imagination by the rules of common sense, simply incapacitated the poets
of the period from producing works of the highest order. And its
insistence upon man as he appeared in the conventional, urban society of
the day as the one true theme of poetry, its belief that the end of
poetry was to instruct and improve either by positive teaching or by
negative satire, still further limited its field. One must remember in
attempting an estimate of 'The Rape of the Lock' that it was composed
with an undoubting acceptance of this creed and within all these
narrowing limitations. And when this is borne in mind, it is hardly too
much to say that the poem attains the highest point possible. In its
treatment of the supernatural it is as original as a poem could be at
that day. The brilliancy of its picture of contemporary society could
not be heightened by a single stroke. Its satire is swift and keen, but
never ill natured. And the personality of Pope himself shines through
every line. Johnson advised authors who wished to attain a perfect style
to give their days and nights to a study of Addison. With equal justice
one might advise students who wish to catch the spirit of our so-called
Augustan age, and to realize at once the limitations and possibilities
of its poetry, to devote themselves to the study of 'The Rape of the
Lock'.

DEDICATION

'Mrs. Arabella':

the title of Mrs. was still given in Pope's time to unmarried ladies as
soon as they were old enough to enter society.

'the Rosicrucian doctrine':

the first mention of the Rosicrucians is in a book published in Germany
in 1614, inviting all scholars to join the ranks of a secret society
said to have been founded two centuries before by a certain Christian
Rosenkreuz who had mastered the hidden wisdom of the East. It seems
probable that this book was an elaborate hoax, but it was taken
seriously at the time, and the seventeenth century saw the formation of
numerous groups of "Brothers of the Rosy Cross." They dabbled in
alchemy, spiritualism, and magic, and mingled modern science with
superstitions handed down from ancient times. Pope probably knew nothing
more of them than what he had read in 'Le Comte de Gabalis'.

This was the work of a French abbe, de Montfaucon Villars (1635-1673),
who was well known in his day both as a preacher and a man of letters.
It is really a satire upon the fashionable mystical studies, but treats
in a tone of pretended seriousness of secret sciences, of elemental
spirits, and of their intercourse with men. It was translated into
English in 1680 and again in 1714.

CANTO I

Lines '1-2'

Pope opens his mock-epic with the usual epic formula, the statement of
the subject. Compare the first lines of the 'Iliad', the 'AEneid', and
'Paradise Lost'. In l. 7 he goes on to call upon the "goddess," i.e. the
muse, to relate the cause of the rape. This, too, is an epic formula.
Compare 'AEneid', I, 8, and 'Paradise Lost', I, 27-33.

'3 Caryl':

see Introduction, p. 83. In accordance with his wish his name was not
printed in the editions of the poem that came out in Pope's lifetime,
appearing there only as C----or C----l.

'4 Belinda':

a name used by Pope to denote Miss Fermor, the heroine of 'The Rape of
the Lock'.

'12'

This line is almost a translation of a line in the 'AEneid' (I, 11),
where Virgil asks if it be possible that such fierce passions (as
Juno's) should exist in the minds of gods.

'13 Sol':

a good instance of the fondness which Pope shared with most poets of his
time for giving classical names to objects of nature. This trick was
supposed to adorn and elevate poetic diction. Try to find other
instances of this in 'The Rape of the Lock'.

Why is the sun's ray called "tim'rous"?

'16'

It was an old convention that lovers were so troubled by their passion
that they could not sleep. In the 'Prologue to the Canterbury Tales'
(ll. 97-98), Chaucer says of the young squire:

So hote he lovede, that by nightertale
He sleep namore than dooth a nightingale.

Pope, of course, is laughing at the easy-going lovers of his day who in
spite of their troubles sleep very comfortably till noon.

'17'

The lady on awaking rang a little hand-bell that stood on a table by her
bed to call her maid. Then as the maid did not appear at once she tapped
impatiently on the floor with the heel of her slipper. The watch in the
next line was a repeater.

'19'

All the rest of this canto was added in the second edition of the poem.
See pp. 84-86. Pope did not notice that he describes Belinda as waking
in I. 14 and still asleep and dreaming in ll. 19-116.

'20 guardian Sylph':

compare ll. 67-78.

'23 a Birth-night Beau':

a fine gentleman in his best clothes, such as he would wear at a ball on
the occasion of a royal birthday.

'30'

The nurse would have told Belinda the old tales of fairies who danced by
moonlight on rings in the greensward, and dropped silver coins into the
shoes of tidy little maids. The priest, on the other hand, would have
repeated to her the legend of St. Cecilia and her guardian angel who
once appeared in bodily form to her husband holding two rose garlands
gathered in Paradise, or of St. Dorothea, who sent an angel messenger
with a basket of heavenly fruits and flowers to convert the pagan
Theophilus.

'42 militia':

used here in the general sense of "soldiery."

'44 the box':

in the theater.

'the ring':

the drive in Hyde Park, where the ladies of society took the air.

'46 a chair':

a sedan chair in which ladies used to be carried about. Why is Belinda
told to scorn it?

'50'

What is the meaning of "vehicles" in this line?

'56 Ombre':

the fashionable game of cards in Pope's day. See his account of a game
in Canto III and the notes on that passage.

'57-67'

See 'Introduction', p. 85.

'69-70'

Compare 'Paradise Lost', I, 423-431.

'79'

conscious of their face: proud of their beauty.

'81 These':

the gnomes who urge the vain beauties to disdain all offers of love and
play the part of prudes.

'85 garters, stars, and coronets':

the garter is the badge of the Knights of the Garter, an order founded
by Edward III, to which only noble princes and noblemen of the highest
rank were admitted. "Stars" are the jeweled decorations worn by members
of other noble orders. "Coronets" are the inferior crowns worn by
princes and nobles, not by sovereigns.

'86 "Your Grace"':

the title bestowed in England on a duchess--The idea in this passage,
ll. 83-86, is that the gnomes fill the girls' minds with hopes of a
splendid marriage and so induce them to "deny love."

'94 impertinence':

purposeless flirtation.

'97-98 Florio ... Damon':

poetic names for fine gentlemen; no special individuals are meant.

'100' Why is a woman's heart called a "toy-shop"?

'101 Sword-knots':

tassels worn at the hilts of swords. In Pope's day every gentleman
carried a sword, and these sword-knots were often very gay.

'105 who thy protection claim':

what is the exact meaning of his phrase?

'108 thy ruling Star':

the star that controls thy destinies, a reference to the old belief in
astrology.

'115 Shock':

Belinda's pet dog. His name would seem to show that he was a
rough-haired terrier.

'118'

Does this line mean that Belinda had never seen a billet-doux before?

'119 Wounds, Charms, and Ardors':

the usual language of a love-letter at this time.

'124 the Cosmetic pow'rs':

the deities that preside over a lady's toilet. Note the playful satire
with which Pope describes Belinda's toilet as if it were a religious
ceremony. Who is "th' inferior priestess" in l. 127?

'131 nicely':

carefully.

'134 Arabia':

famous for its perfumes.

'145 set the head':

arrange the head-dress.

'147 Betty':

Belinda's maid.

CANTO II

'4 Launch'd':

embarked.

'25 springes':

snares.

'26 the finny prey':

a characteristic instance of Pope's preference or circumlocution to a
direct phrase.

'35-36'

A regular formula in classical epics. In Virgil (XI, 794-795) Phoebus
grants part of the prayer of Arruns; the other part he scatters to the
light winds.

'38 vast French Romances':

these romances were the customary reading of society in Pope's day when
there were as yet no English novels. Some of them were of enormous
length. Addison found several of them in a typical lady's library, great
folio volumes, finely bound in gilt ('Spectator', 37).

'58 All but the Sylph':

so in Homer (1-25), while all the rest of the army is sleeping Agamemnon
is disturbed by fear of the doom impending over the Greeks at the hands
of Hector.

'60 Waft':

wave, or flutter.

'70 Superior by the head':

so in Homer ('Iliad', III, 225-227) Ajax is described as towering over
the other Greeks by head and shoulders.

'73 sylphids':

a feminine form of "sylphs."

'74'

This formal opening of Ariel's address to his followers is a parody of a
passage in 'Paradise Lost', V, 600-601.

'75 spheres':

either "worlds" or in a more general sense "regions."

'79'

What are the "wandering orbs," and how do they differ from planets in l.
80?

'97 a wash':

a lotion for the complexion.

'105'

Diana, the virgin huntress, was in a peculiar sense the goddess of
chastity.

'106 China jar':

the taste for collecting old china was comparatively new in England at
this time. It had been introduced from Holland by Queen Anne's sister,
Queen Mary, and was eagerly caught up by fashionable society.

'113 The drops':

the diamond earrings.

'118 the Petticoat':

the huge hoop skirt which had recently become fashionable. Addison, in a
humorous paper in the 'Tatler' (No. 116), describes one as about
twenty-four yards in circumference.

'128 bodkin':

a large needle.

'133 rivel'd':

an obsolete raiment of "obrivelled."

'133 Ixion':

according to classical mythology Ixion was punished for his sins by
being bound forever upon a whirling wheel.

'134 Mill':

the mill in which cakes of chocolate were ground up preparatory to
making the beverage.

'138 orb in orb':

in concentric circles.

'139 thrid':

a variant form of "thread."

CANTO III

'3 a structure':

Hampton Court, a palace on the Thames, a few miles above London. It was
begun by Wolsey, and much enlarged by William III. Queen Anne visited it
occasionally, and cabinet meetings were sometimes held there. Pope
insinuates (l. 6) that the statesmen who met in these councils were as
interested in the conquest of English ladies as of foreign enemies.

'8'

Tea was still in Queen Anne's day a luxury confined to the rich. It
cost, in 1710, from twelve to twenty-eight shillings per pound.

'9 The heroes and the nymphs':

the boating party which started for Hampton Court in Canto II.

'17'

Snuff-taking had just become fashionable at this time. The practice is
said to date from 1702, when an English admiral brought back fifty tons
of snuff found on board some Spanish ships which he had captured in Vigo
Bay.

In the 'Spectator' for August 8, 1711, a mock advertisement is inserted
professing to teach "the exercise of the snuff-box according to the most
fashionable airs and motions," and in the number for April 4, 1712,
Steele protests against "an impertinent custom the fine women have
lately fallen into of taking snuff."

'22 dine':

the usual dinner hour in Queen Anne's reign was about 3 P.M. Fashionable
people dined at 4, or later. This allowed the fashionable lady who rose
at noon time to do a little shopping and perform "the long labours of
the toilet."

'26 two ... Knights':

one of these was the baron, see l. 66.

'27 Ombre':

a game of cards invented in Spain. It takes its name from the Spanish
phrase originally used by the player who declared trumps: "Yo soy
l'hombre," 'i.e.' I am the man. It could be played by three, five, or
nine players, but the usual number was three as here. Each of these
received nine cards, and one of them named the trump and thus became the
"ombre," who played against the two others. If either of the ombre's
opponents took more tricks than the ombre, it was "codille" (l. 92).
This meant that the opponent took the stake and the ombre had to replace
it for the next hand.

A peculiar feature of ombre is the rank, or value, of the cards. The
three best cards were called "matadores," a Spanish word meaning
"killers." The first of these matadores was "Spadillio," the ace of
spades; the third was "Basto," the ace of clubs. The second, "Manillio,"
varied according to the suit. If a black suit were declared, Maniilio
was the two of trumps; if a red suit, Manillio was the seven of trumps.
It is worth noting also that the red aces were inferior to the face
cards of their suits except when a red suit was trump.

A brief analysis of the game played on this occasion will clear up the
passage and leave the reader free to admire the ingenuity with which
Pope has described the contest in terms of epic poetry.

Belinda declares spades trumps and so becomes the "ombre." She leads one
after the other the three matadores; and takes three tricks. She then
leads the next highest card, the king of spades, and wins a fourth
trick. Being out of trumps she now leads the king of clubs; but the
baron, who has actually held more spades than Belinda, trumps it with
the queen of spades. All the trumps are now exhausted and the baron's
long suit of diamonds is established. He takes the sixth, seventh, and
eighth tricks with the king, queen, and knave of diamonds, respectively.
Everything now depends on the last trick, since Belinda and the baron
each have taken four. The baron leads the ace of hearts and Belinda
takes it with the king, thus escaping "codille" and winning the stake.

'30 the sacred nine':

the nine Muses.

'41 succint':

tucked up.

'54 one Plebeian card':

one of Belinda's opponents is now out of trumps and discards a low card
on her lead.

'61 Pam':

a term applied to the knave of clubs which was always the highest card
in Lu, another popular game of that day.

'74 the globe':

the jeweled ball which forms one of the regalia of a monarch. The aspect
of playing cards has changed not a little since Pope's day, but the
globe is still to be seen on the king of clubs.

'79 Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts':

these are the losing cards played by Belinda and the third player on the
baron's winning diamonds.

'99'

Pope's old enemy, Dennis, objected to the impropriety of Belinda's
filling the sky with exulting shouts, and some modern critics have been
foolish enough to echo his objection. The whole scene is a masterpiece
of the mock-heroic. The game is a battle, the cards are warriors, and
Belinda's exclamations of pleasure at winning are in the same fashion
magnified into the cheers of a victorious army.

'100 long canals':

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