Critical Analysis of the Rape of the Lock by Pope

The destruction of the grand style of the epic is just what Pope was after in his mock epic, The Rape of the Lock. Pope had no such universal goal, or moral pronouncements to make as did Milton. His purpose was merely to expose the life of the nobility of his time. While Milton chose blank verse to express the immensity of the landscape of his epic, Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize this grandeur. Popes quick wit bounces the reader along his detailed description of his parlor-room epic. His content is purposefully trivial, his scope purposefully thin, his style purposefully light-hearted, and therefore his choice of form purposefully geared toward the smooth, natural rhythm of the heroic couplet. The caesura, the†¦show more content†¦The stakes in this mock-heroic epic are Belindas maidenhood, and the convention of the epic warning comes by way of Ariels reading of bad omens: Late as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,/ In the clear mirror of thy ruling s tar/ I saw, alas! some dread event impend/ . . . Beware of all, but most beware of Man! (105-114). Belindas performance of her toilette, assisted by Betty, her inferior priestess (127), is described as the arming of the epic hero: Now awful Beauty put on all its arms (138), and the images evoked in Popes description of the various creams and perfumes on Belindas vanity invests them with a value and exoticism they dont deserve: Unnumbered treasures, glittering spoil, Indias glowing gems, all Arabia breathes from yonder box, The tortoise here and elephant unite (129-135) By means of hyperbole, Pope manages to reveal the true worthlessness of these substances. Pope advocates the use of concrete, Saxonate words over abstract, Latinate ones in poetry, and offers numerous examples from eighteenth century poetry of how the effect of abstraction is to show a lackShow MoreRelatedCorrectional Administration Reviewer18383 Words   |  74 Pagesï  ± the First separate institution for women were established in Indiana and Massachusetts. DIVISIONS OF CRIMINOLGY: 1. Sociology of Law is an attempt at scientific analysis of the conditions under w/c criminal laws develop and w/c is seldom included in the book of criminology. 2. Criminal Etiology is an attempt of scientific analysis of the causes of crimes. 3. Penology is concerned with the control of crime. THE CONCEPT OF PENALTY Penalty in its general sense signifies pain; in the judicial sphereRead Morewisdom,humor and faith19596 Words   |  79 Pagesjokes if they make us feel superior, amidst our own ethnic group, to any supposed inferior group. Humor is also sometimes an inappropriate response to an event. Hearing of evils like the killing of an innocent person, the demeaning of a child, or the rape of a woman should elicit not humor but sorrow. As the Bible’s book of Ecclesiastes says, there is â€Å"a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.† Enlightening comments on the relationship of humor to wisdom were once made