The Kidnapping of the Lock is an example of Alexander Pope’s masterful use of heroic couplets and lucid satire. Each passage within this poem contains a great deal of information about Pope’s style and how it is characteristic of him. I have chosen the first twenty lines of the work, here to examine and show how the Popes are typed and what their importance and meaning is.
How grievous the love of error caused the offense to be rebuked,
What great things grow out of small struggles,
singo – Here towards Caryllus, Muses! It is due:
Belinda also deserves to look at this:
It is a small matter, but not so praiseworthy
If he inspires, he will prove himself everywhere.
At first glance, this stanza sounds like announcing something grand and truly terrible, quite unlike what is happening. Then the Pope with “light”. The tongue is wide and powerful, as small and tight. It introduced the classic themes of love and war. Abduction of the Obsi is an epic form of play. It is only fitting that this stanza includes the theme of the theme that the Pope “sings”, and then dedicates it to the Muse. The Muse’s name is Caryll – the name of a friend who comes to Pope and asks him to write about the enmity between the families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Peter. The next line “Even Belinda is worthy to see this” is an example of the Pope’s humanity and gentleness. The use of the word even elevates Belinda’s status and is in fact a member of the upper class. /a> or beau-monde. Every word which the Pope uses here is voluntary. The next line shows how confident Pope was as a poet and how much he knew his own talent – “It is a light thing, but not so much praise”. He knew that this matter owed much to his genius. It emphasizes the lightness of the subject and emphasizes the songs. The last line is an example of Pope’s great kindness and humanity in this and other works.
Say, oh wonderful goddess! He could force
A noble lord to attack meekly?
Oh, tell me what a strange but unexpected cause
Would it be possible to gently and nicely smite the master?
In affairs so bold as few men can fight,
And soft in the bosoms lives so much fury?
Again the Pope hears to mock the epic form with the plea of the Goddess. Clearly, the Pope thinks this situation has been grossly overreacted. “Impetu” elevates the most trivial things to something much more serious, as the two families of Arabella Fermor and Dominus Peter have done. He also eloquently criticizes the overreaction of Arabella Fermor, or Belinda, on hair clips. The last two lines refer directly to the Aeneid – Pope is a very learned man and his works are linked with classical references. His dearest poet was Virgil, and it is so fitting that he should refer to his work from his dearest poet. little men for the little ones.
The sun emits white rays through the timid skins
Those eyes that should darken the day.
And now the stones give themselves a shaking, exciting,
And sleepless lovers, twelve only, watch:
When the bell rang three times, the shoe struck the ground
And the printed watch makes a silver sound.
Belinda, however, lay down on the downy skin
The keeper of the sylph prolonged a soft rest.
The first line of this stanza would have been so different if instead of sun, Pope had simply said “sun”. Sol gives this line a nice and pleasant ambience to match the world that is Belinda’s home. Even to the world of the Belindas the sense of a mind as if it were foreign to the beau-world would have been foreign to someone who was not of that race (and while Pope knew people of that race, he was not a member of it). Sol beckoned to the family to begin the day. The following line is extremely elegant and light – in the word use (especially “oped” than “open”, there are few consonants dropped, and therefore the line simply slips with a raised voice. The following few lines provide an elegant view into the world of Belinda, which Pope not only decade , but he clearly thinks that the lapdogs are sleeping. The line of the lovers is one of the first sensual elements in the poem. There are several other lines that refer to the women’s maids and only emphasize this vision of the beautiful world. The final stanza introduces us to the Sylphs, or “the little gods to the little things.”
This place is an excellent example of Pope’s style and of Neoclassical literary style and characteristics in general. Neoclassical writers aimed to articulate a general truth rather than a unique vision, to communicate to others rather than to express themselves. The pontiff’s writing is moderate and polished, but it sometimes has a sharp edge: “It is the highest thing, but not so much praise, if it inspires, he himself will prove it.” It is written, however, in a polite way, “there is little argument.” Another good example would be this Aeneid – “In so many labors dare the smallest men to compete, and in soft pockets lives so much fury?”
The pope was a master of eloquence. His writing was subtle, but still complex. He was famous for his heroic couplets, and later in his career he also turned the Iliad and the Odyssey into heroic couplets. He was, however, unique in that he encompassed a great deal of variety within the narrow form of the heroic couplet. He created a metrical variety, substituting trochees and stanzas (which should have been usual in heroic couplets. In the first stanza the lines are quite regular iambic pentameter< /a> to the beginning of line 5. “Leva est” is a repeated iambic pentameter. So far the iambic pentameter has been broken only once (in line 3). ” puts, indicates to the reader the importance of the word in the line.
At first, the Rapture Lock seems to be just something to criticize a certain social situation. In fact, he criticizes anyone who makes light of a situation as serious as the families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Peter did. It is already clear in the first twenty lines of the work that Pope thinks that this beau-monde society and these persons are ridiculous, and he tells it in very intelligent words and satire.
WORKS CITED
