The Rape of the Lock is an example of Alexander Pope’s mastery of the usage of the heroic couplet and of his brilliant satire. Any passage within this poem holds vast information on the style of Pope and how it is typical of him. I chose the first twenty lines of the work to examine here and show how they are typical of Pope and what their importance and meaning is.
What dire offense from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing – This verse to Caryll, Muse! Is due:
This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
At first this stanza sounds like it is announcing something grand and truly terrible, something entirely disproportional to the actual incident. Then Pope stings with “trivial things”. The language goes from being broad and powerful to being small and pinched. It has introduced the classic themes of love and war. Rape of the Lock is in mock-epic form. It is only fitting that this stanza includes a statement of the argument that Pope “sings”, and then he dedicates it to a muse. The muse’s name is Caryll – the name of the friend that came to Pope asking him to write about the feud between the families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre. The next line “This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view” is an example of Pope’s extreme politeness and smoothness. The use of the word even elevates Belinda’s status and indeed, she is a member of the upper class or beau-monde. Every word that Pope uses here is intentional. The next line shows how confident Pope was as a poet and how much he knew his own talent – “Slight is the subject, but not so the praise”. He knew that this subject was much beneath his talent. It stresses the triviality of the subject and elevates the poetry. The last line is another example of Pope’s extreme courtesy and politeness throughout this work and others.
Again Pope hearkens back to the mock epic form with his plea to the Goddess. Clearly Pope thinks that this situation has been highly overreacted to. “Assault” is elevating a trivial situation to something much more serious, as the two families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre have done. He is also clearly criticizing Arabella Fermor’s, or Belinda’s, overreaction to the clipping of the lock of hair. The last two lines are a direct reference to the Aeneid – Pope was an extremely learned man and his works are threaded with references to the classics. His favorite poet was Virgil, so it is only fitting that he referenced a work by his favorite poet. Again Pope is stressing the smallness and triviality of the situation with little men – little men for little things.
Sol through the white curtains shot a timorous ray
And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day.
Now lapdogs give themselves the rousing shake,
And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake:
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground,
And the pressed watch returned a silver sound.
Belinda still her downy pillow pressed,
Her guardian Sylph prolonged the balmy rest.
The first line of this stanza would have been so different if instead of sol, Pope had just simply said, “The sun”. Sol gives this line a refined and elegant ambiance to match the world that is Belinda’s home. It also gives Belinda’s world a sort of foreign feel – the beau-monde would have been foreign to someone who was not of that class (and while Pope knew people of the class, he himself was not a member of it). Sol signals to the household that the day has begun. The next line is especially elegant and light – with his word usage (especially that of “oped” rather than “opened”) there are few voiced consonants, and so the line simply glides when it is spoken aloud. The next few lines give an elegant glimpse into Belinda’s world, which Pope clearly thinks is not only decadent, but very beautiful. Even the lapdogs get to sleep in. The “sleepless lovers” line is one of the first sensuous elements in the poem – throughout the work there are several other references to amorous activities. The next few lines referring to the summoning of ladies’ maids and such only intensifies this vision of an expensive, glamorous world. The final couplet examined introduces us to the Sylphs, or the “little gods for little things”. The Sylphs will play an important role throughout the work. Pope essentially introduces the Sylphs to the mainstream reader for the purpose of his work – beforehand, they had only been in obscure literature.
This passage is an excellent example of Pope’s style and the style and characteristics of the literary Neoclassical period in general. Neoclassical writers aimed to articulate general truth rather than unique vision, to communicate to others more than to express themselves. Pope’s writing is restrained and polite, yet it has a sharp point to it at times – “Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, if she inspire, and he approve my lays.” It is written politely yet stings with “Slight is the subject”. Another good example of this would be his quote from the Aeneid – “In tasks so bold can little men engage, and in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?”
Pope was a master of style. His writing had precision, but was still complex. He was famous for writing in heroic couplets, and later on in his career would even translate the Illiad and the Odyssey into heroic couplet form. However, he was unique in the fact that he included rhythmic variety within the strict form of the heroic couplet. He achieved metrical variety by substituting trochees and spondees (for what should have been normal iambs within the heroic couplet) at will. In the first stanza, the lines are fairly regular iambic pentameter until the beginning of line 5. “Slight is” is a trochaic foot. This breaks up the repetitiveness of the iambic pentameter. Thus far the iambic pentameter had only been broken once before (in line 3). This meter being thrown off also shows Pope’s wit because it puts an unexpected emphasis on “slight”, signaling to the reader the importance of the word in the line.
At first, Rape of the Lock appears only to be something criticizing a certain social situation. But in fact, it is criticizing anyone who elevates a trivial situation to the level of something so serious as the families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre have done. It is already clear in the first twenty lines of the work that Pope thinks this beau-monde society and these characters are being ridiculous, and with polished words and highly intelligent satire, he tells them so.
WORKS CITED
Stephen Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eighth edition, volume 1. New York, NY: Norton, 2006.
