NOTES ON KINDLE AS WELL

Self objectification and the projection of self

Narcissus of ovid a heavenly image in the glass appears

Offerings euphemism for the spoils (take by force; rape) from asia and
orient
Classicism -The following of ancient Greek or Roman principles and style in art and
literature, generally associated with harmony, restraint, and adherence to recognized
standards of form and craftsmanship, especially from the Renaissance to the 18th
century.
Neoclassic- A revival of classical aesthetics and forms, especially:
a. A revival in literature in the late 1600s and 1700s, characterized by a regard for the classicalideals of reason, form, and restraint.
b. A revival in the 1700s and 1800s in architecture and art, especially in the decorative arts,characterized by order, symmetry, and simpl
icity of style.
c. A movement in music lasting roughly from 1915 to 1940 that sought to avoid subjectiveemotionalism and to return to the style of the
pre-Romantic composers.
we dont get to know the real Belinda, because we just see her reflection
(which is a Goddess and artificial)
a description of Cleopatra
poetic device popularised by Pope an odd thing brought in, in a list (e.g.-
bible trivialised)
essay on man
epic description a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary
or historical hero <the Iliad and the Odyssey are epics> 2 : a work of art (as a novel or drama) that
resembles or suggests an epic.
depersonalisation - Depersonalization can consist of a reality or detachment
within the self, regarding one's mind or body, or being a detached observer of
oneself. Subjects feel they have changed, and the world has become vague,
dreamlike, less real, or lacking in significance.
couplet of pope heroic couplet
Alexander Pope was born in London in 1 6 8 8 . As a Roman Catholic living

during a time of Protestant consolidation in England, he was largely excluded

from the university system and from political life, and suffered certain social

and economic disadvantages because of his religion as well. He was self-

taught to a great extent, and was an assiduous scholar from a very early age.

He learned several languages on his own, and his early verses were often

imitations of poets he admired. His obvious talent found encouragement from

his father, a linen-draper, as well as from literary-minded friends. At the age of

twelve, Pope contracted a form of tuberculosis that settled in his spine, leaving

him stunted and misshapen and causing him great pain for much of his life.

He never married, though he formed a number of lifelong friendships in

Londons literary circles, most notably with Jonathan Swift.

Pope wrote during what is often called the Augustan Age of English literature

(indeed, it is Popes career that defines the age). During this time, the nation

had recovered from the English Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution, and

the regained sense of political stability led to a resurgence of support for the

arts. For this reason, many compared the period to the reign of Augustus in

Rome, under whom both Virgil and Horace had found support for their work.

The prevailing taste of the day was neoclassical, and 1 8 th-century English

writers tended to value poetry that was learned and allusive, setting less value

on originality than the Romantics would in the next century. This literature also

tended to be morally and often politically engaged, privileging satire as its

dominant mode.

The Rape of the Lock is one of the most famous English-language examples

of the mock-epic. Published in its first version in 1 7 1 2 , when Pope was

only 2 3 years old, the poem served to forge his reputation as a poet and

remains his most frequently studied work. The inspiration for the poem was an

actual incident among Popes acquaintances in which Robert, Lord Petre, cut

off a lock of Arabella Fermors hair, and the young peoples families fell into

strife as a result. John Caryll, another member of this same circle of prominent

Roman Catholics, asked Pope to write a light poem that would put the episode

into a humorous perspective and reconcile the two families. The poem was

originally published in a shorter version, which Pope later revised. In this later

version he added the machinery, the retinue of supernaturals who influence

the action as well as the moral of the tale.

After the publication of The Rape of the Lock, Pope spent many years

translating the works of Homer. During the ten years he devoted to this

arduous project, he produced very few new poems of his own but refined his

taste in literature (and his moral, social, and political opinions) to an incredible
degree. When he later recommenced to write original poetry, Pope struck a

more serious tone than the one he gave to The Rape of the Lock. These later

poems are more severe in their moral judgments and more acid in their satire:

Popes Essay on Man is a philosophical poem on metaphysics, ethics, and

human nature, while in the Dunciad Pope writes a scathing expos of the bad

writers and pseudo-intellectuals of his day.

The Rape of the Lock is a humorous indictment of the vanities and idleness

of 1 8 th-century high society. Basing his poem on a real incident among

families of his acquaintance, Pope intended his verses to cool hot tempers

and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own folly.

The poem is perhaps the most outstanding example in the English language

of the genre of mock-epic. The epic had long been considered one of the most

serious of literary forms; it had been applied, in the classical period, to the lofty

subject matter of love and war, and, more recently, by Milton, to the intricacies

of the Christian faith. The strategy of Popes mock-epic is not to mock the form

itself, but to mock his society in its very failure to rise to epic standards,

exposing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the traditional epic

subjects and the bravery and fortitude of epic heroes: Popes mock-heroic

treatment in The Rape of the Lockunderscores the ridiculousness of a society

in which values have lost all proportion, and the trivial is handled with the

gravity and solemnity that ought to be accorded to truly important issues. The

society on display in this poem is one that fails to distinguish between things

that matter and things that do not. The poem mocks the men it portrays by

showing them as unworthy of a form that suited a more heroic culture. Thus

the mock-epic resembles the epic in that its central concerns are serious and

often moral, but the fact that the approach must now be satirical rather than

earnest is symptomatic of how far the culture has fallen.

Popes use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of

the Lock is a poem in which every element of the contemporary scene

conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical world view, and

the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness and expertise that makes

the poem surprising and delightful. Popes transformations are numerous,

striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become

bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and

Roman gods are converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically

ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry substitute for armor and

weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted to the dressing

room and the altar of love.

The verse form of The Rape of the Lock is the heroic couplet; Pope still reigns

as the uncontested master of the form. The heroic couplet consists of rhymed

pairs of iambic pentameter lines (lines of ten syllables each, alternating

stressed and unstressed syllables). Popes couplets do not fall into strict

iambs, however, flowering instead with a rich rhythmic variation that keeps the

highly regular meter from becoming heavy or tedious. Pope distributes his

sentences, with their resolutely parallel grammar, across the lines and half-

lines of the poem in a way that enhances the judicious quality of his ideas.

Moreover, the inherent balance of the couplet form is strikingly well suited to a

subject matter that draws on comparisons and contrasts: the form invites

configurations in which two ideas or circumstances are balanced, measured,

or compared against one another. It is thus perfect for the evaluative,

moralizing premise of the poem, particularly in the hands of this brilliant poet.

Another cool poetic trick that Pope uses often comes in the last two lines of
this section: "In Tasks so Bold, can little Men engage,/ And in soft Bosoms
dwell such mighty Rage?" (11-12). If you look at both lines together, you'll see
 that the first half of the first line ("Tasks so Bold") goes with the second half of
the second line ("mighty Rage"), and the second half of the first line ("little
Men") goes well with the first half of the second ("soft Bosoms").

This poetic device is called a chiasmus, from the Greek word for "cross." Look
for more instances of it throughout the poem.

We are introduced to four different kinds of these spirits: "Salamanders" (59-

60), spirits of fire, who had strong personalities in life and were
temperamental and quick to anger; "Nymphs"(61-62), water spirits who used
to be wishy-washy girls; "Gnomes" (63-64), earthy types who were moody
drama queens in life; and best of all the "Sylphs" (65-66), spirits of the air who
when alive were "coquettes"flirty happy girls, or the classic cheerleader
types.

The Rape of the Lock is a humorous indictment of the vanities and idleness of 18th-century
high society. Basing his poem on a real incident among families of his acquaintance, Pope
intended his verses to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own
folly.
The poem is perhaps the most outstanding example in the English language of the genre of
mock-epic. The epic had long been considered one of the most serious of literary forms; it
had been applied, in the classical period, to the lofty subject matter of love and war, and,
more recently, by Milton, to the intricacies of the Christian faith. The strategy of Popes
mock-epic is not to mock the form itself, but to mock his society in its very failure to rise to
epic standards, exposing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the traditional epic
subjects and the bravery and fortitude of epic heroes: Popes mock-heroic treatment in The
Rape of the Lock underscores the ridiculousness of a society in which values have lost all
proportion, and the trivial is handled with the gravity and solemnity that ought to be accorded
to truly important issues. The society on display in this poem is one that fails to distinguish
between things that matter and things that do not. The poem mocks the men it portrays by
showing them as unworthy of a form that suited a more heroic culture. Thus the mock-epic
resembles the epic in that its central concerns are serious and often moral, but the fact that the
approach must now be satirical rather than earnest is symptomatic of how far the culture has
fallen.
Popes use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of the Lock is a poem
in which every element of the contemporary scene conjures up some image from epic
tradition or the classical world view, and the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness
and expertise that makes the poem surprising and delightful. Popes transformations are
numerous, striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become
bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and Roman gods are
converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics,
clothing, and jewelry substitute for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice
are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of love.
The verse form of The Rape of the Lock is the heroic couplet; Pope still reigns as the
uncontested master of the form. The heroic couplet consists of rhymed pairs of iambic
pentameter lines (lines of ten syllables each, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables).
Popes couplets do not fall into strict iambs, however, flowering instead with a rich rhythmic
variation that keeps the highly regular meter from becoming heavy or tedious. Pope
distributes his sentences, with their resolutely parallel grammar, across the lines and half-
lines of the poem in a way that enhances the judicious quality of his ideas. Moreover, the
inherent balance of the couplet form is strikingly well suited to a subject matter that draws on
comparisons and contrasts: the form invites configurations in which two ideas or
circumstances are balanced, measured, or compared against one another. It is thus perfect for
the evaluative, moralizing premise of the poem, particularly in the hands of this brilliant poet.

spleenwort reference - holding a sprig of spleenwort before him as a charm.

hysteria - The term hysteria comes from the Greek word hysterika, meaning
Uterus. In ancient Greece it was believed that a wandering and discontented Uterus
was blamed for that dreaded female ailment of excessive emotion, hysteria.

Stylistic Features in The Rape of The Lock by Alexander Pope

Satyendra Kumar Singh*
Abstract: I can't forget the horror which crept into my mind seeing a book o f more than 100
pages suggested by my teacher to study the prescribed text of about 200 lines of Mac
Fleknoe. I was forced to think whether it was necessary to study the age in which the text
was written or the biography of the author of the text. Fortunately, I came to know, later, that
there is a school of critics which does not pay attention to the historical or biographical
background of the texts but the words, phrases, clauses, sentences and aspects related to
them to analyse or interpret or study a work of literature independently. The promotion of the
study of Linguistics has given greater opportunity to examine a literary piece phonologically
(pattern of speech, sounds, metre or rhyme), syntactically (types of sentence structure),
lexically (types of words on sensory bases) and rhetorically (figurative language, symbols,
imagery etc.)
Keywords: Stylistics, Linguistics, Foregrounding, Collocation, Deviation, Lexical, Semantics,
Syntactic, Imagery, Symbolism, Phonology, Rhetorical. The depth and density of aesthetic
experience can be understood only through the analysis of the literary piece. Stylistics tries
to do so as well as disclose what a literary text is really expressing beneath its linguistics
form. Bearing in mind the above things I advocate the stylistic approaches to study literature
that will be objective and scientific in nature. That is why I am making a humble attempt to
write an article on this feature in The Rape Of The Lock. My article is based on the study of
the text on several grounds. First of all the central notion of foregrounding has been taken
into considerations. To foreground is to bring something into the highest prominences, to
make it dominant. By the use of figurative language a literary utterance is foregrounded and
this use itself attracts attention and is perceived as uncommon. The title of the poem The
Rape Of The Lock is a proper example of foregrounding. According to Coleridge familiar
objects evoke freshness of sensation. The title has unexpected lexical collocation. Again
the word 'Lock' may have another meaning that is appliance mechanism by which a door,
gate, lid etc. may be fastened with a bolt that needs a key to work it. It is a sex symbol too.
The words 'rape' and 'Lock' show that the poem has a theme related to sex. Foregrounding
occurs when deviations from ordinary language take place. All such deviations of the poem
will be studied. In other words style will be studied as deviance dire offence, amorous,
muse, vouchsafe, sol etc. Literary words like springs, mighty contest, trivial, lays also
constitute the style of the text in question.
The Rape of The Lock is a conceptual deviance. In the following couplet the first line is
serious and solemn after the grandeur of epic, and the second line trivial shows that pulls
down the solemnity of the first to mockery: What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things. Other deviations like grammatical, lexical,
syntactical will be selected to thinterpret the given text. Line 6 of the poem. If she inspire,
and He approve my lays. the subjects 'she' and 'He' don't agree with the verbs 'inspire' and
'approve' respectively. The first line of the following couplet Belinda still her downy pillow
prest, Her guardian SYLPH prolong'd the balmy rest: ndhas the deviant structure
object+verb (downy pillow prest) whereas the 2 line has normal expression verb+object
(prolonged the balmy rest). This discussion makes it clear that linguistic deviation
foregrounds an utterance and gives some special meaning to the text (the phrases, clauses,
lines).
LEXICAL : Repetition of the word 'what' in the first, fourth, fifth and the other couplets has
something to do with the meaning. A few other repeated words are 'woman' and 'maids'. The
grouping of words from same are 'belle', 'dues', 'maids', 'woman'; 'nymphs', 'gnome', 'female',
'coquettes'. Moreover, the parallelism in the first and the second lines makes the utterance
effective: Dire amorous mighty trivial They try to interpret the parallelism as opposed. The
recurrent use of the preposition 'from' shows source as well as separation. The lexical items
amorous, belle, bosoms, lovers, bed, youth, bean, cheek, lips, fairest, virgins, maids,
woman, nymphs, gnome, female, coquettes are capable of interpretations having to do
with love and flirtation.
SYNTACTICAL: The structure of the sentences or clauses is called syntax. In literature or
poetry, some variations from the standard rules are allowed. Artists have 'poetic license' to
do so. In the following lines What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty
contests rise from trivial things, the structures of sentences foregrounds 'dire offence',
'mighty- contests'. The normal structure might be: 'amorous causes spring dire offence and
'trivial things raise (give rise) mighty contest. In the third line This verse to Caryl, Muse! is
due The normal structure might be Muse! This verse is due to Caryl. What dire I sing
constitutes a complex sentence in which the main clause 'I
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
173
23.
Stylistic Featur es in The Rape of The Lock by Alexander Pope
Satyendra Kumar Singh*
Abstract:

I
can't
for get
the
horr or
which
cr ept
into
my
mind
seeing
a
book
o
f
mor e than 100 pages suggested by my teacher to study the pr escribed text of about 200
lines of Mac Fleknoe. I was for ced to think whether it was necessary to study the age in
which the text was written or the biography of the author of the text. Fortunately , I came to
know , later , that ther e is a school of critics which does not pay attention to the historical or
biographical backgr ound of the texts but the wor ds, phrases, clauses, sentences and
aspects r elated to them to analyse or interpr et or study a work of literatur e independently .
The pr omotion of the study of Linguistics has given gr eater opportunity to examine a literary
piece phonologically (pattern of speech, sounds, metr e
or r hyme), syntactically (types of sentence structur e), lexically (types of wor ds on sensory
bases) and r hetorically (figurative language, symbols, imagery etc.)
K
e
y
w
o
r
d
s
:

S
t
y
l
i
s
t
i
c
s
,

L
i
n
g
u
i
s
t
i
c
s
,

F
o
re
g
ro
u
n
d
i
n
g
,

C
o
l
l
o
c
a
t
i
o
n
,

D
e
v
i
a
t
i
o
n
,

L
e
x
i
c
a
l
,

S
e
m
a
n
t
i
c
s
,

S
y
n
t
a
c
t
i
c
,

I
m
a
g
e
r
y,

S
y
m
b
o
l
i
s
m
,

Phonology , Rhetorical. The depth and density

of
aesthetic
experience
can
be
understood
only
through the analysis of the literary piece. Stylistics tries to do so as well as disclose what a
literary text is really expressing beneath its linguistics form. Bearing in mind the above things
I advocate the stylistic approaches to study literature that will be objective and scientific in
nature. That is why I am making a humble attempt to write an article on this feature in The
Rape Of The Lock. My article is based on the study of the text on several grounds. First of all
the central notion of foregrounding has been taken into considerations. T o foreground is to
bring something into the highest prominences, to make it dominant. By the use of figurative
language a literary utterance is foregrounded and this use itself attracts attention and is
perceived as uncommon. The title of the poem The Rape Of The Lock is a proper example
of foregrounding. According to Coleridge familiar objects evoke freshness of sensation.
The title has unexpected lexical collocation. Again the word 'Lock' may have another
meaning that is appliance mechanism by which a door , gate, lid etc. may be fastened with
a bolt that needs a key to work it. It is a sex symbol too. The words 'rape' and 'Lock' show
that the poem has a theme related to sex. Foregrounding occurs when deviations from
ordinary language take place. All such deviations of the poem will be studied. In other words
style will be studied as deviance dire of fence, amorous, muse, vouchsafe, sol etc. Literary
words like springs, mighty contest, trivial, lays also constitute the style of the text in question.
The Rape of The Lock is a conceptual deviance. In the following couplet the first line is
serious and solemn after the grandeur of epic, and the second line trivial shows that pulls
down the solemnity of the first to mockery: What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things. Other deviations like grammatical, lexical,
syntactical will be selected to thinterpret the given text. Line 6 of the poem. If she inspire,
and He approve my lays. the subjects 'she' and 'He' don't agree with the verbs 'inspire' and
'approve' respectively. The first line of the following couplet Belinda still her downy pillow
prest, Her guardian SYLPH prolong'd the balmy rest: ndhas the deviant structure
object+verb (downy pillow prest) whereas the 2 line has normal expression verb+object
(prolonged the balmy rest). This discussion makes it clear that linguistic deviation
foregrounds an utterance and gives some special meaning to the text (the phrases, clauses,
lines).
LEXICAL : Repetition of the word 'what' in the first, fourth, fifth and the other couplets has
something to do with the meaning. A few other repeated words are 'woman' and 'maids'. The
grouping of words from same are 'belle', 'dues', 'maids', 'woman'; 'nymphs', 'gnome', 'female',
'coquettes'. Moreover, the parallelism in the first and the second lines makes the utterance
effective: Dire amorous mighty trivial They try to interpret the parallelism as opposed. The
recurrent use of the preposition 'from' shows source as well as separation. The lexical items
amorous, belle, bosoms, lovers, bed, youth, bean, cheek, lips, fairest, virgins, maids,
woman, nymphs, gnome, female, coquettes are capable of interpretations having to do
with love and flirtation.
SYNTACTICAL: The structure of the sentences or clauses is called syntax. In literature or
poetry, some variations from the standard rules are allowed. Artists have 'poetic license' to
do so. In the following lines What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty
contests rise from trivial things, the structures of sentences foregrounds 'dire offence',
'mighty- contests'. The normal structure might be: 'amorous causes spring dire offence and
'trivial things raise (give rise) mighty contest. In the third line This verse to Caryl, Muse! is
due The normal structure might be Muse! This verse is due to Caryl. What dire I sing
constitutes a complex sentence in which the main clause 'I
V ol.V .9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
173
23.
sing' should be at the beginning in normal case. But to highlight the eventive participant and
resultant, respectively, the amorous causes and dire offence are explained. Verb 'inspire'
and 'approve' don't agree with the subjects 'she' and 'He' respectively in the sixth line; "If she
inspire, and He approve my lays." Does this deviation take the word 'she' and 'He'
collectively for female and male sexuality respectively? It seems that there is a close
correlation between the deviations and the themes. Imperative phrases like 'Hear and
believe' and 'thy own importance know' give clue that some suggestions are being given to
somebody. There are some semantics syntactic deviations also in the text. To arrive at an
objective interpretation this deviation will be examined. Literally eyes can't eclipse the day in
the line. An ope'd those eyes that must eclipse the day grammatically, the poem uses
present tense in the opening eight couplets (16 lines). This shows the theme in some
present subject matter. Again it uses past tense that shows it has some narrative.
RHETORICAL : Under this head both the figures of speech and imageries will be examined
that are used consciously or unconsciously in the text in question. The first couplet presents
contrast as dire offence am'rous causes mighty contests trivial things The third line uses
innovation, 'Muse'/Rhetorical question is asked in the sixth couplet. In tasks so bold, can little
men engage, And in soft bosoms, dwells such mighty rage? Paradox is used in the following
line: And sleepless lovers, just at twelve awake. If sleepless how do they awake? Such and
other rhetorical Images of white curtains, lap dogs, bell, slipper, pillow, bed etc have much to
do with the theme of the poem.
SYMOBOLISM: The device of symbolism is an essential ingredient of The Rape Of The Lock
and is very much central to the theme of the poem. This aspect of the poem is a relatively
recent discovery, as a result of which the poem is no longer looked upon as a huge trifle, but
a work with complete texture. The hair, or the lock of hair, as the researches of the
anthropologist of our time show, is a fertility symbol. It is associated with various rituals of the
fertility cult as described in the various classical Latin works with which Pope and his readers
were fairly well acquainted. In the title of the poem, therefore, 'the Lock' is a symbol of
virginity and the title, in straight forward words may be put as 'the loss of virginity'. Following
these researches, the events and characters of the poem fall into a meaningful symbolic
pattern. The sylphs are symbols of conscious inhibitions which put a check on the natural
love longings of the virgins. The game of ombre symbolizes the process of sex game, and
cutting of the lock by the
Baron represents the male overpowering the female, while the snuff and sneezing symbolise
the orgasm of the pattern. A question may be raised about the symbolic pattern but it is
indisputable that The Rape Of The Lock abounds in objects which are symbol of sex and
sexual act. It abounds in objects which are saturated with suggestions of sex: bed room,
lap dog, toilet, the boat on the river, the scissor, and all the objects mentioned in the Cave of
Spleen scene. Apart from this, the plethora of the 'vessel imagery' is also remarkable, and a
vessel according to Freud, is symbolic of the female sex. Such objects as jars, vases,
pipkins, bottles, pots, China crockery and so on are mentioned again and again, particularly
in the toilet and the Cave of Spleen parts. On Belinda's toilet table: Each silver vase in
mystic order (is) laid. In the cave spleen scene there are other symbolic objects such as
quilt, night, night dress, but the vessel objects are all gathered in one passage for
inescapably strong suggestive effect : living tea-pots with one arm held out. A pipkin
there, a jar, a goose pie and, finally maids turned bottles, calling aloud for corks. In
this scene of fantasy, Pope also uses objects symbolic of male sex such as the arm, the
handle, the sprout and the corks.
IMAGERY: Needless to say that The Rape of The Lock is a mock epic, and this character
determines its imagery. As a mocking imitation of epic, it puts to ridiculous all the grand
features of the epic form. Now the imagery of the epic is distinguished by its elaborate
nature. Mostly, the epic writers use similes and expand and stretch them as far as they can
go. The elaboration of image in epic is sustained, and each step adds to the dignity of the
treatment. In The Rape Of The Lock, Pope mocks the epic simile by compressing it into a
brief one, and that too to illuminate trivial situation. Take for example the following: [a] Sol
through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day.
[Lines 13- 14] [b] Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain, The sun first rises O'er the
purpled main, Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams. Launched on the bosom of the
silver Thames. [Lines 149 152] [c] Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty
hearts are held in slender chains. [Lines 171 172] Travesty, the grandeur of the epic,
elaborates simile by using it for trivial situation or trivial thing : the sun and the bed room
curtain; the sun in the space and the rays on the river Thames; and, finally, love imprisoning
its victims in the labyrinths of lock of hair. In each image, the grand object has been
trivialised. The hyperbole, far from enhancing the effect, ludicrously damns the effect.
Sometimes, Pope has used after the epic manner descriptive or picture images and not
illustrative images with a view to giving to the poem an impression of expanse, and even in
these the incongruity of the scene, such as in the following: The hungry judges soon the
sentence sign,
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
174 175
sing'
should
be
at
the
beginning
in
normal
case.
But
to
highlight
the
eventive
participant
and
resultant,
respectively ,
the
amorous
causes
and
dire
of fence
are
explained. V erb 'inspire' and 'approve' don't agree with the subjects 'she' and 'He'
respectively in the sixth line; "If she inspire, and He approve my lays." Does this deviation
take the word 'she' and 'He' collectively for female and male sexuality respectively? It seems
that there is a close correlation between the deviations and the themes. Imperative phrases
like 'Hear and believe' and 'thy own importance know' give clue that some suggestions are
being given to somebody . There are some semantics syntactic deviations also in the text.
T o arrive at an objective interpretation this deviation will be examined. Literally eyes can't
eclipse the day in the line. An ope'd those eyes that must eclipse the day grammatically , the
poem uses present tense in the opening eight couplets (16 lines). This shows the theme in
some present subject matter . Again it uses past tense that shows it has some narrative.
RHET ORICAL

Under this head both the figures of speech and imageries will
be
examined
that
are
used
consciously
or
unconsciously
in
the
text
in
question.
The first couplet presents contrast as dire of fence am'rous causes mighty contests trivial
things The third line uses innovation, 'Muse'/Rhetorical question is asked in the sixth couplet.
In tasks so bold, can little men engage, And in soft bosoms, dwells such mighty rage?
Paradox is used in the following line: And sleepless lovers, just at twelve awake. If sleepless
how do they awake? Such and other rhetorical Images of white curtains, lap dogs,
bell, slipper , pillow , bed etc have much to do with the theme of the poem.
SYMOBOLISM:
The
device
of
symbolism
is
an
essential
ingredient
of
The
Rape Of The Lock and is very much central to the theme of the poem. This aspect of the
poem is a relatively recent discovery , as a result of which the poem is no longer looked
upon as a huge trifle, but a work with complete texture. The hair , or the lock of hair , as the
researches of the anthropologist of our time show , is a fertility symbol. It is associated with
various rituals of the fertility cult as described in the various classical Latin works with which
Pope and his readers were fairly well acquainted. In the title of the poem, therefore, 'the
Lock' is a symbol of vir ginity and the title, in straight forward words may be put as 'the loss
of vir ginity'. Following these researches, the events and characters of the poem fall into a
meaningful symbolic pattern. The sylphs are symbols of conscious inhibitions which put a
check on the natural love longings of the vir gins. The game of ombre symbolizes the
process of sex game, and cutting of the lock by the
Baron represents the male overpowering the female, while the snuff and sneezing symbolise
the orgasm of the pattern. A question may be raised about the symbolic pattern but it is
indisputable that The Rape Of The Lock abounds in objects which are symbol of sex and
sexual act. It abounds in objects which are saturated with suggestions of sex: bed room,
lap dog, toilet, the boat on the river, the scissor, and all the objects mentioned in the Cave of
Spleen scene. Apart from this, the plethora of the 'vessel imagery' is also remarkable, and a
vessel according to Freud, is symbolic of the female sex. Such objects as jars, vases,
pipkins, bottles, pots, China crockery and so on are mentioned again and again, particularly
in the toilet and the Cave of Spleen parts. On Belinda's toilet table: Each silver vase in
mystic order (is) laid. In the cave spleen scene there are other symbolic objects such as
quilt, night, night dress, but the vessel objects are all gathered in one passage for
inescapably strong suggestive effect : living tea-pots with one arm held out. A pipkin
there, a jar, a goose pie and, finally maids turned bottles, calling aloud for corks. In
this scene of fantasy, Pope also uses objects symbolic of male sex such as the arm, the
handle, the sprout and the corks.
IMAGERY: Needless to say that The Rape of The Lock is a mock epic, and this character
determines its imagery. As a mocking imitation of epic, it puts to ridiculous all the grand
features of the epic form. Now the imagery of the epic is distinguished by its elaborate
nature. Mostly, the epic writers use similes and expand and stretch them as far as they can
go. The elaboration of image in epic is sustained, and each step adds to the dignity of the
treatment. In The Rape Of The Lock, Pope mocks the epic simile by compressing it into a
brief one, and that too to illuminate trivial situation. Take for example the following: [a] Sol
through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day.
[Lines 13- 14] [b] Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain, The sun first rises O'er the
purpled main, Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams. Launched on the bosom of the
silver Thames. [Lines 149 152] [c] Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty
hearts are held in slender chains. [Lines 171 172] Travesty, the grandeur of the epic,
elaborates simile by using it for trivial situation or trivial thing : the sun and the bed room
curtain; the sun in the space and the rays on the river Thames; and, finally, love imprisoning
its victims in the labyrinths of lock of hair. In each image, the grand object has been
trivialised. The hyperbole, far from enhancing the effect, ludicrously damns the effect.
Sometimes, Pope has used after the epic manner descriptive or picture images and not
illustrative images with a view to giving to the poem an impression of expanse, and even in
these the incongruity of the scene, such as in the following: The hungry judges soon the
sentence sign,
Journal of Literatur e, Cultur e & Media Studies
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Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
174 175
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
And wretches hang that jury men dine; The merchant from the Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the toilet cease. [Lines 311 314] Of the more sort of mock epic
imagery, the following is remarkable, for here Pope simultaneously uses other figures of
speech such as antithesis and balance and zeugma: Not louder shricks to pitying heaven
are cast, When husbands, or when lap dogs breathe their last; Or when rich china vessels
fallen from high, In glittering dust and painted fragments lie. [Lines 447 450] It is to be
noted that in these illustrations, there is not one single image elaborated to its utmost
possibilities, as is the case in an epic, but in each case. Pope offers a list of separate
illustrative pictures each enforcing the effect of the previous one and all together creating an
impression of ludicrous bathos. Take the following for example: Not youthful kings in battle
seized alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, Not ardent lovers robbed of all
their bliss, Not ancient ladies when refuged a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinned awry E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair,
As thou, sad virgin! for thy ravished hair. [Lines 469 478] In each line there is one object of
an image which completes itself by being juxtaposed with the anger of Belinda at the loss of
her hair. Each line is evocative of a literary and epic myth in its tragically serious context; the
defeat and overpowering of a king, the viragos and so on; and each is juxtaposed with
Belinda's tantrums after the loss of her hair. The effect is one of comic laughter. Again, take
the typically epic image of God balancing, the fate of two warring communities or nations. In
Homer, Jove, the mightiest of the gods of the heaven balances the fates of the Greeks and
the Trojans in course of their thirteen years battle. In Pope, God balances men's wits
against Lady's hair. Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, Weighs the men's wits
against the lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods side to side; At length the wits mount
up, the hairs subside. [Line 713 716] Apart from these explicit clusters of images some
images are implicit with the description and narration. In the case of final battle with Bodkin
which defeats the proud Baron there is mocking image of an epic.
PHONOLOGICAL : Sound, metre and rhyme of the text are studied under phonology. The
lines of The Rape of The Lock are in iambic pentameter. Let us look at the following line:
What dire offence from amorous causes springs, The lines rhyme at the end. To maintain the
number of syllable or feet there are elision of mid-vowels. Words like am'rous, ev'n, t',
tim'rous, opi'd are a few examples. Most of the words are monosyllabic or disyllabic.
Alliteration increases the beauty of the poem. The following line has alliteration of /s/. Slight
is the subject, but not so the praise.Such aspects as mentioned above show a relation to
them or meaning of the poem.
REFERENCES thPope, Alexander. 2004. The Rape Of The Lock, 9 Edition. thPatil, R.R.
1992. An Approach To Stylists, 5 Ed. thSingh, R.S.1993. Stylistic Approaches To Literature,
Ed. by R.S. Singh, 4 Ed., Arnold, 1993. thV arshney, R.L.1995.The Rape Of The Lock, 6 Ed.,
Sahitya Bhandar. *holds Ph.D. Degree in Stylistics and he hails from Bihar
176 177
Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies
Vol.V.9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
Journal of Literatur e, Cultur e & Media Studies
V ol.V .9&10 Jan.- Dec.2013
And wretches hang that jury men dine; The merchant from the Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the toilet cease. [Lines 31 1 314]
Of
the
more
sort
of
mock

epic
imagery ,
the
following
is
remarkable,
for
here
Pope
simultaneously
uses
other
figures
of
speech
such
as
antithesis
and
balance
and zeugma:
Not louder shricks to pitying heaven are cast, When husbands, or when lap dogs breathe
their last; Or when rich china vessels fallen from high, In glittering dust and painted
fragments lie. [Lines 447 450]
It is to be noted that in these illustrations, there is not one single image elaborated to its
utmost possibilities, as is the case in an epic, but in each case. Pope of fers a list of separate
illustrative pictures each enforcing the ef fect of the previous one and all together creating an
impression of ludicrous bathos. T ake the following for example: Not youthful kings in battle
seized alive, Not scornful vir gins who their charms survive, Not ardent lovers robbed of all
their bliss, Not ancient ladies when refuged a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinned awry E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair ,
As thou, sad vir gin! for thy ravished hair . [Lines 469 478] In each line there is one object
of an image which completes itself by being juxtaposed with the anger of Belinda at the loss
of her hair . Each line is evocative of a literary and epic myth in its tragically serious context;
the defeat and overpowering of a king, the viragos and so on; and each is juxtaposed with
Belinda's tantrums after the loss of her hair . The ef fect is one of comic laughter . Again,
take the typically epic image of God balancing, the fate of two warring communities or
nations. In Homer , Jove, the mightiest of the gods of the heaven balances the fates of the
Greeks and the T rojans in course of their thirteen years battle. In Pope, God balances
men's wits against Lady's hair. Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air , W eighs the
men's wits against the lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods side to side; At length the
wits mount up, the hairs subside. [Line 713 716] Apart from these explicit clusters of
images some images are implicit with the description and narration. In the case of final battle
with Bodkin which defeats the proud Baron there is mocking image of an epic.
PHONOLOGICAL

:
Sound,
metre
and
rhyme
of
the
text
are
studied
under
phonology .
The
lines
of

The
Rape
of
The
Lock

are
in
iambic
pentameter .
Let
us
look at the following line:
What dire offence from amorous causes springs, The lines rhyme at the end. To maintain the
number of syllable or feet there are elision of mid-vowels. Words like am'rous, ev'n, t',
tim'rous, opi'd are a few examples. Most of the words are monosyllabic or disyllabic.
Alliteration increases the beauty of the poem. The following line has alliteration of /s/. Slight
is the subject, but not so the praise.Such aspects as mentioned above show a relation to
them or meaning of the poem.
REFERENCES thPope, Alexander. 2004. The Rape Of The Lock, 9 Edition. thPatil, R.R.
1992. An Approach To Stylists, 5 Ed. thSingh, R.S.1993. Stylistic Approaches To Literature,
Ed. by R.S. Singh, 4 Ed., Arnold, 1993. thV arshney, R.L.1995.The Rape Of The Lock, 6 Ed.,
Sahitya Bhandar. *holds Ph.D. Degree in Stylistics and he hails from Biha