rapeofthelock

-15. A.Fope, The Mapę of the Lock

MOCK HEROIC:

The most outstanding example in the Eiiglish language of the genie of mock-epic Mock heroic epic is merely a parody of the serious epic.

Trivial situations are treated as if they were of a great importance.

Popek mock-heroic treatment m The Rape of the Lock imderscores the ridictilousness of a society in which values have lost all proportion, and the triYial is handled with the solemnity (powaga )that ought to be accorded to truły important issues

The Rape of the Lock parodies the traditional epic in siumerons ways :

a long, hnmorous narraiŚYe poem based on an aetaal incident (incident in which a British nobleman, Lord Petre, cut off a lock of hair dangling from the head of the beautiful Arabella Fermor. Petre ’s daring theft of the lock set off a battle royal between the Petre and Fermor families)

actuai iiiYOoation to the muse of poetry for inspiration (Papę does not invoke a goddess; instead, he invokes hisjriend. John Ceny ił (spetled CARYL in the poem), who had asked Pope to write a kieraty work focusfng on an evenf)

Dndsios of the Poem lato Books or Cantos (Pope*s poem is very short (5 esatos) compared to different poems - it demoaslrates 'the smaJIness or pettaness of the behayior exhibited by the main characters m the poem

the title suggests moc-kmg - tlie rape stm&L for otittmg off the lock.

a Iofty theme, the use of epic conventioms towards a trivial subjeets. Epic subjects were grand; for mstance, the Trojan War (Iliad), the Fali of Mam (Paradise Lost). Here we have something different e.g.: a lovers’ tiff (sprzeczka). The poesn mocks the traditions of classica! epics: the abdnetion of Helen of Troy becomes here the theft of a lock of hair or the description of Achilles’ shield becomes one of Beł«ida’s petticoats (halka)

Pope uses the epic style of invocations, lamentatioiis, exclamations and similes, and in some cases adds parody to imitation by folłowing the ffamework of aetual speeches in Homer’s Iliad

The syIphs and gnomes instead God and angels.

Pope’s mocking reereation of the gods who watch over the heroes of epics and gnidę their Fortune. The gods are tiny, ffail and powerless (E.g.; in ‘Paradise Lost’ we have mighty angels)

The great Greek and Roman gods are corrverted irito a relatively army of basically ineffectual (nieudolny) sprites

- The great battłes of epic become boats (aftach) of gambling and fłirtatious tiffs (sprzeczka) Cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry substitote for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious saerifice are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of Iove.

Pope also borrowed ełaborate phrases and similes (porównanidfkom the great epics of the western tradition. The joke lies in his applying this elevated language to “the life of the modern ladies in the idłe town”

EPIC PROPOSITION:

Poem based on a Real incident among families tkat Pope knew, He intends his verses to cool hot tempers and to enlarge his friends to langh at their owa folły. He evokes to the Mnse. He presents the subject of the poem. There is a dedication to the mas who coimnissioned the poem.

STRUCTURE:

the structure and style of a mock-heroic.

There are 5 cantos

Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in heroic couplets. A heroic couplet is a unit of two rhyming

lines in iambic pentameter. A linę of verse in iambic pentameter consists of 10 syllabłes. The

first syllabłe is unaceented, the second accented, the thkd imaccented, the fourth accented, and

so on. The entire poem consists of one heroic couplet followed by another

Each of the lines has 10 syllabłes in a succession of accented and unaceented pairs (iambic

pentameter)

This satire is purposely written to invoke laughter and ridicale particułar aspects of society.