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The Rape of the Lock and A Key to the Lock
When Lord Petre had the effrontery of cutting off a lock of Lady Arabella Fermor's hair, a veritable war erupted between the two noble families. A mutual friend, saddened by their estrangement, asked Alexander Pope, then a young poet, to write a poem about it, in order to make a joke of it and "laugh them together again." But the result - which in its ingenuity and poetical brilliance reaches peaks of epic sublime - concealed darker and more dangerous undertones that unleashed an even greater storm between the parties involved - and among the whole literary world of the time.
As Belinda glides along the Thames admired for her beauty and the crafty Baron schemes to take his prize, a host of supernatural beings - elfs, sylphs, gnomes - dance around them to avoid the impending doom, in what is Pope's crowning poetical achievement and perhaps the greatest satirical poem ever written. Included in this volume are the original two-canto version of The Rape of the Lock and Pope's hilarious mock-interpretation of the poem as a seditious work, A Key to the Lock.
As Belinda glides along the Thames admired for her beauty and the crafty Baron schemes to take his prize, a host of supernatural beings - elfs, sylphs, gnomes - dance around them to avoid the impending doom, in what is Pope's crowning poetical achievement and perhaps the greatest satirical poem ever written. Included in this volume are the original two-canto version of The Rape of the Lock and Pope's hilarious mock-interpretation of the poem as a seditious work, A Key to the Lock.
128 pages, Paperback
Published October 23, 2018
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About the author
Alexander Pope
2,378 books684 followersPeople best remember
The Rape of the Lock
(1712) and
The Dunciad
(1728), satirical mock-epic poems of English writer Alexander Pope.
Ariel, a sylph, guards the heroine of The Rape of the Lock of Alexander Pope.
People generally regard Pope as the greatest of the 18th century and know his verse and his translation of Homer. After William Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson, he ranks as third most frequently quoted in the language. Pope mastered the heroic couplet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand...
Ariel, a sylph, guards the heroine of The Rape of the Lock of Alexander Pope.
People generally regard Pope as the greatest of the 18th century and know his verse and his translation of Homer. After William Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson, he ranks as third most frequently quoted in the language. Pope mastered the heroic couplet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2023
4/5⭐️
“Not Cynthia when her Manteau's pinn'd awry, E'er felt such Rage, Resentment, and Despair, As Thou, sad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair.”
I must say if some guy came to a ball and chopped off my hair it would take a lot more than it being turned into a constellation to dissuade my rage.
That being said this was fun and I’m glad I decided to give it a read after learning about it in AP Lit this year. Reading this also allowed me to learn that rape didn’t always mean rape in the modern sense but also used to be used as a way to talk about abduction. That aside I really liked the Homer references and I found the fact that this was a poem based on real events to be incredibly entertaining. Who knew that hair chopping was such a crime?
“Not Cynthia when her Manteau's pinn'd awry, E'er felt such Rage, Resentment, and Despair, As Thou, sad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair.”
I must say if some guy came to a ball and chopped off my hair it would take a lot more than it being turned into a constellation to dissuade my rage.
That being said this was fun and I’m glad I decided to give it a read after learning about it in AP Lit this year. Reading this also allowed me to learn that rape didn’t always mean rape in the modern sense but also used to be used as a way to talk about abduction. That aside I really liked the Homer references and I found the fact that this was a poem based on real events to be incredibly entertaining. Who knew that hair chopping was such a crime?
February 25, 2014
Tendo a obra sido "encomendada" a Pope pelo seu amigo John Caryll, o poema relata o crime de Lord Petre que, apaixonado por Miss Arabella Fermor, teve a audácia de lhe cortar um canudo de cabelo (à laia de talismã) provocando, com essa acção, um afastamento gélido entre a sua família e a da sua amada. Assim, e a pedido do seu amigo, Alexander Pope escreveu o poema mostrando quão ridícula era a contenda familiar, ao mesmo tempo que aproveita para parodiar os poemas épicos.
Assim, e de acordo com a obra, vemos que o canudo de cabelo tem "presença própria" e que o seu roubo foi permitido e, mesmo, instigado por seres, espíritos e entidades sobrenaturais que asseguravam a segurança e castidade não só do canudo bem como da sua proprietária. E, para provar o lado divino do objecto de culto capilar, vemos como este, no final do livro, sobe aos céus, tornando-se uma constelação!!!
No fundo é como se Pope procurasse desculpar Lord Petre afirmando que as acções tomadas por este último lhe foram impostas por terceiros e que, para o apaixonado, o motivo de discórdia é um objecto de culto e adoração.
Assim, e de acordo com a obra, vemos que o canudo de cabelo tem "presença própria" e que o seu roubo foi permitido e, mesmo, instigado por seres, espíritos e entidades sobrenaturais que asseguravam a segurança e castidade não só do canudo bem como da sua proprietária. E, para provar o lado divino do objecto de culto capilar, vemos como este, no final do livro, sobe aos céus, tornando-se uma constelação!!!
No fundo é como se Pope procurasse desculpar Lord Petre afirmando que as acções tomadas por este último lhe foram impostas por terceiros e que, para o apaixonado, o motivo de discórdia é um objecto de culto e adoração.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews