"This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conspired to deck With shining ringlets the smooth ivory detains, And Mighty hearts are held in slender chains. With hairy springes we the birds betray, Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair."
A prominent characteristic in "Rape of the Lock" is Supernatural Forces. Supernatural Forces are apparent when Ariel, the sylph, introduces himself to Belinda and warns her that something bad is going to happen in lines 27-36. Ariel gathers other sylphs to help him protect Belinda in lines 103-106. Then towards the end of the story, Ariel tries to interfere when the Baron is cutting off Belinda's precious lock of hair, only to be snipped in half. "Fate urged the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain, But airy substance soon unites again. (lines 177-178).
"See fierce Belinda on the Baron flies, With more than usual lighting in her eyes: Nor feared the chief the unequal fight to try, who sought no more than on his foe to die But this bold lord, with manly strength endued She with one figer and a thumb subdued"
"Now meet they fate, incensed Belinda cried, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side"
Pope describes Belinda's "attack" on the baron as something that took great courage and power
In Medias Res is when the narrative begins in the middle of things. In The Rape of the Lock the narrative uses this characteristic at the beginning of the story. When the story actually starts in line 13 with "Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day..." meaning that the day is starting but we go into the story not knowing any background information like who Shock, or the muses are, who Belinda is etc. We need the index in order to find out this information.
"What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What might contests rise from trivial things, I sing--This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due; This, even Belings may vouchsafe to view: slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays."
Pope invocated the Muses to copy other old epics, such as Beowulf, which also invocate the Muses to help them write the story.
(The same, his ancient parsonage to deck. Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck In three seal rings; which after, melted down, Formed a vast buckle for his widow's gown; Her infants grandame's whistle next it grew, The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs, Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears.)
This section shows the history of Belinda's hair pin as a weapon. It goes from three rings, to a belt buckle, to a whistle, to bells, to a hairpin that was passed down from her mother.
The poem does not give much background on what its about. Alexander Pope was writing about how Lord Petre cut off a lock of hair from Arabella Fermor. Which he refused to give back, social warfare ensured. John Caryll asked Pope to reconcile the families. If you were not informed of this information it would make it much harder to understand the point of this poem.
Epic poems often include descriptions and histories of the warfare. In the battle between Belinda and the Baron, Belinda uses her hairpin as a weapon. A history of Belinda's hairpin is included in lines 257-264. "Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck in three seal rings; which after, melted down, formed a vast buckle for his widow's gown; Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, the bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs, which long she wore, and now Belinda wears." These lines show that Belinda's hairpin has been passed down in her family as 3 rings, a buckle, a whistle, and finally a hairpin.
The Rape of the Lock is written with an elevated style such as that of true epics. Written entirely in heroic couplets, the iambic pentameter and end rhyme give the tale a sophisticated rhyme and rhythm. The tone is primarily objective, the syntax uniquely, and the diction simple, yet elevated.
Example (Lines 151-152) "But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!"
An epic characteristic in "The Rape of the Lock" is the supernatural force. Belinda's "watchful sprite" Ariel is introduced in line 106; "a thousand" other sprites appear to thwart the Baron's evil plan in line 135
One epic characteristic in "The Rape of the Lock" would be in media res. As you begin to read the poem, you're given no specific background about what is happening. Pope begins the poem with the subject of overexaggeration; Lines 1-2; "What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things." Then Pope jumps right into the middle of the story without any explaination of what has already occured and any background information on characters. Lines 13-18; "Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day; Now lap dogs give themselves the rousing shake. And sleepless lovers, just at twelve awake: Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground, And the pressed watch returned a silver sound."
"Present the spear, and arm him for the fight" (line 156) This quote expresses the action characteristic because it refers to fighting in the scene and preparing for a scene that contains some action which is a epic characteristic. It's slight but it is a characteristic.
After the Baron cuts Belinda's lock of hair, she cries, "To arms, to arms!" (135). The crowd then proceeds to to rise... "No common weapons in their hands are found, Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound," (237). This description suddenly takes these everday people enjoying a party, and turns them into warriors. Things continue to grow ridiculously as Belinda exclaims, "Now meet thy fate, incensed Belinda cried, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side" (255). Clearly a hairpin could do little damage to the Baron; however, this is another reference to a description of warfare.
One example of an epic characteristic found in the rape of the lock is the description of warfare. In lines 256 the weapon is introduced as "his ancient personage to deck, Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck IN three seal rings; which after, melted down, formed a vast backle for his widow's gown; her infant grandame's whistle next it grew; the bells she jingleed, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs which long she wore and now Belinda wears" The author goes into great detail describing the history of the great weapon (hair pin) and how it came to be, making it seem very important
One characteristic found in The Rape of the Lock is supernatural forces. Belinda is protected throughout the epic by her "guardian Sylphs." They are introduced in line 20 and are present for the continuation of the epic.
Invocation to the muses- for inspiration and for assistance, especially at the beginning, but also as needed throughout.
Line 2- "What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I Sing-This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due..." This is where he points out what has happened & brings in Caryll.
One epic element in "The Rape of the Lock" is the supernatural forces. These forces must intervene in the life of one of the characters to be considered an epic element. In lines 160-163 the sylphs try to save Belinda from the Baron. The lines say, "As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head: Swift to the lock a thousand sprites rpair. A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear..."
Within Pope's "Rape of the Lock" an epic characteristic is the appearance of the sprites. The supernatural forces affect Belinda's actions and warn her of pending danger (line 82). According to the common characteristics of epics, supernatural forces interest themselves in the action and intervene from time to time. In Pope's satire, the appearance of sprites is a common characteristic of epics.
starting in line 13,"Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And opened those eyes that must eclipse the day," and contuining on throughout the canto. We, as readers, are just thrown into the story with out any background knowledge. We must refer to the footnotes on the bottom right corner to learn about characters. Another way to learn about the characters is through the numerous epithets.
SUPERNATURAL FORCES lines 162-164 A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear; Thrice she looked back, and thrice the foe drew near.
The sylphs are trying to warn Belinda that the foe is approaching
Invocation to the muses is one of the common characteristics of epics, that is used in The rape of the lock. It is used for inspiration and for assistance, especially at the beginning which it is used in this reading. In canto I lines 3-6. It says "I sing -- This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due; This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays. This is when the story starts and he says what inspired him to write the story and prove his point of how little things can start a huge fight!
Everyone speaks the same language, including the Sylphs who are supernatural/otherworldly so it would be understandable if they spoke something other than english since on Earth every couple hundreds of miles there is either a) a variation of one language or b) a totally different language.
in "the rape of the lock" pope uses descriptive language to describel Belinda's hairpin as her weapon. "Her infant grandmame's whistle next it grew. The bells she jinglesd, and the whitle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mather's hairs. Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears" (Pope 261-264). Pope describes how the hairpin was passed down through generations na dtook many forms before Belinda aqquired it.
In Rape of the Lock I noticed that the sylphs and Ariel had a big part in coming to the rescue in times of dire need for Balinda. It was some what comical that they made such a big deal of one lock of hair being cut off. Also, the sylphs were made up to be so wonderful and that they were saviors and the were their biggest strength.
Action- consists of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage. In lines 180-190 I saw the epic characteristic of Action in the victor cutting the hair. It shows superhuman courage by describing how he actually went and cut Belinda’s hair and then took pride in it and bragged about it, “”The glorious prize is mine’” (Pope 188). It's proven to be such a superhuman act because of the way everyone reacts to this little lock of hair being cut off and turning it into this huge issue like a war or some sort of law being broken. Also, in lines 260-270 I thought also displayed action because Belinda is taking the courageous action to fight back for the lock that she lost and doing so with just her hair pin. In a way I could see it as her being so upset that she wanted her revenge instantly and used what she had available to her as her weapon.
Duncan In rape of the locke, one epic element is the supernatural. Ariel, the sylph, warns Belinda that something bad is going to happen and Ariel tries to protect Belinda. Also, Belinda's hair goes up in the space and becomes a star.
One main epic characteristic in ROTL is the sytle, of grand simplicity. One of the examples in from lines 61-64. "Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; the fair each moment rises in her charms, repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, and calls forth all the wonders of her face." Pope uses charms, wonders and grace to give the story a very elegant feel.
One characteristic of ROTL is supernatural forces. Such as Ariel, who came to Belinda in a dream warning her about people.
"This to disclose is all a guardian can: Beware of all, but most beware of man!" Ariel tries to warn Belinda about the guy who's going to cut her hair.
Pope uses the invocation to a Muse (in this case, calling on his friend John Caryll) to inspire him to tell the story as it happened, and as eloquently as possible.
"I sing- This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due" (line 3).
An example of a supernatural force, an epic characteristic, would be in line 20 "Her guardian Sylph prolonged the balmy rest". This brings in the mythical and usually intriguing subject into the story drawing people in.
KENNINGS.
ReplyDeletesun-beams = Belinda's eyes
EPIC SIMILE:
ReplyDelete"This nymph, to the destruction of mankind,
Nourished two locks, which graceful
hung behind
In equal curls, and well conspired to deck
With shining ringlets the smooth ivory detains,
And Mighty hearts are held in slender chains.
With hairy springes we the birds betray,
Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey,
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair."
-Locks of hair represent imprisonment-
Karissa Beilke
ReplyDeleteA prominent characteristic in "Rape of the Lock" is Supernatural Forces. Supernatural Forces are apparent when Ariel, the sylph, introduces himself to Belinda and warns her that something bad is going to happen in lines 27-36. Ariel gathers other sylphs to help him protect Belinda in lines 103-106. Then towards the end of the story, Ariel tries to interfere when the Baron is cutting off Belinda's precious lock of hair, only to be snipped in half.
"Fate urged the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain,
But airy substance soon unites again.
(lines 177-178).
Action.
ReplyDeleteLines 243-256.
"See fierce Belinda on the Baron flies,
With more than usual lighting in her eyes:
Nor feared the chief the unequal fight to try,
who sought no more than on his foe to die
But this bold lord, with manly strength endued
She with one figer and a thumb subdued"
"Now meet they fate, incensed Belinda cried,
And drew a deadly bodkin from her side"
Pope describes Belinda's "attack" on the baron as something that took great courage and power
Invocation to the muses
ReplyDelete- for inspiration and for assistance, especially at the beginning, but also as needed throughout.
"I sing-This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due;" (line 3)
Pope calls for the muse to begin his story.
In Medias Res
ReplyDeleteIn Medias Res is when the narrative begins in the middle of things. In The Rape of the Lock the narrative uses this characteristic at the beginning of the story. When the story actually starts in line 13 with "Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day..." meaning that the day is starting but we go into the story not knowing any background information like who Shock, or the muses are, who Belinda is etc. We need the index in order to find out this information.
Invocation of the Muses: (lines 1-6)
ReplyDelete"What dire offense from amorous causes springs,
What might contests rise from trivial things,
I sing--This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due;
This, even Belings may vouchsafe to view:
slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my lays."
Pope invocated the Muses to copy other old epics, such as Beowulf, which also invocate the Muses to help them write the story.
Description of Warfare:
ReplyDelete257-263
(The same, his ancient parsonage to deck.
Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck
In three seal rings; which after, melted down,
Formed a vast buckle for his widow's gown;
Her infants grandame's whistle next it grew,
The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew;
Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs,
Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears.)
This section shows the history of Belinda's hair pin as a weapon. It goes from three rings, to a belt buckle, to a whistle, to bells, to a hairpin that was passed down from her mother.
In medias res-
ReplyDeleteThe poem does not give much background on what its about. Alexander Pope was writing about how Lord Petre cut off a lock of hair from Arabella Fermor. Which he refused to give back, social warfare ensured. John Caryll asked Pope to reconcile the families. If you were not informed of this information it would make it much harder to understand the point of this poem.
Epic poems often include descriptions and histories of the warfare. In the battle between Belinda and the Baron, Belinda uses her hairpin as a weapon. A history of Belinda's hairpin is included in lines 257-264. "Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck in three seal rings; which after, melted down, formed a vast buckle for his widow's gown; Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, the bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs, which long she wore, and now Belinda wears."
ReplyDeleteThese lines show that Belinda's hairpin has been passed down in her family as 3 rings, a buckle, a whistle, and finally a hairpin.
Epithets, descriptive adjectives attached to persons, are found throughout Rape of the Lock.
ReplyDelete"The inferior priestess" (19)
"sable ringlets" (237)
"fierce virago" (245)
The Rape of the Lock is written with an elevated style such as that of true epics. Written entirely in heroic couplets, the iambic pentameter and end rhyme give the tale a sophisticated rhyme and rhythm. The tone is primarily objective, the syntax uniquely, and the diction simple, yet elevated.
ReplyDeleteExample (Lines 151-152)
"But when to mischief mortals bend their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!"
An epic characteristic in "The Rape of the Lock" is the supernatural force. Belinda's "watchful sprite" Ariel is introduced in line 106; "a thousand" other sprites appear to thwart the Baron's evil plan in line 135
ReplyDeleteOne epic characteristic in "The Rape of the Lock" would be in media res. As you begin to read the poem, you're given no specific background about what is happening. Pope begins the poem with the subject of overexaggeration;
ReplyDeleteLines 1-2; "What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things."
Then Pope jumps right into the middle of the story without any explaination of what has already occured and any background information on characters.
Lines 13-18; "Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day; Now lap dogs give themselves the rousing shake. And sleepless lovers, just at twelve awake: Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground, And the pressed watch returned a silver sound."
Epithets
ReplyDeleteDowny Pillow (19)
Adventurous Baron (81)
Bricht Locks(81-82)
Silken Wings (116)
Charming Indian screen (142)
Action:
ReplyDelete"Present the spear, and arm him for the fight" (line 156)
This quote expresses the action characteristic because it refers to fighting in the scene and preparing for a scene that contains some action which is a epic characteristic. It's slight but it is a characteristic.
Descriptions of Warfare
ReplyDeleteAfter the Baron cuts Belinda's lock of hair, she cries, "To arms, to arms!" (135). The crowd then proceeds to to rise... "No common weapons in their hands are found, Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound," (237). This description suddenly takes these everday people enjoying a party, and turns them into warriors. Things continue to grow ridiculously as Belinda exclaims, "Now meet thy fate, incensed Belinda cried, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side" (255). Clearly a hairpin could do little damage to the Baron; however, this is another reference to a description of warfare.
Jessica Sands
ReplyDeleteOne example of an epic characteristic found in the rape of the lock is the description of warfare. In lines 256 the weapon is introduced as "his ancient personage to deck, Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck IN three seal rings; which after, melted down, formed a vast backle for his widow's gown; her infant grandame's whistle next it grew; the bells she jingleed, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs which long she wore and now Belinda wears" The author goes into great detail describing the history of the great weapon (hair pin) and how it came to be, making it seem very important
One characteristic found in The Rape of the Lock is supernatural forces. Belinda is protected throughout the epic by her "guardian Sylphs." They are introduced in line 20 and are present for the continuation of the epic.
ReplyDeleteInvocation to the muses- for inspiration and for assistance, especially at the beginning, but also as needed throughout.
ReplyDeleteLine 2- "What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I Sing-This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due..." This is where he points out what has happened & brings in Caryll.
One epic element in "The Rape of the Lock" is the supernatural forces. These forces must intervene in the life of one of the characters to be considered an epic element. In lines 160-163 the sylphs try to save Belinda from the Baron. The lines say, "As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head: Swift to the lock a thousand sprites rpair. A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear..."
ReplyDeleteWithin Pope's "Rape of the Lock" an epic characteristic is the appearance of the sprites. The supernatural forces affect Belinda's actions and warn her of pending danger (line 82). According to the common characteristics of epics, supernatural forces interest themselves in the action and intervene from time to time. In Pope's satire, the appearance of sprites is a common characteristic of epics.
ReplyDeleteLauren Wood
ReplyDeleteIn Medias Res
starting in line 13,"Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, And opened those eyes that must eclipse the day," and contuining on throughout the canto. We, as readers, are just thrown into the story with out any background knowledge. We must refer to the footnotes on the bottom right corner to learn about characters. Another way to learn about the characters is through the numerous epithets.
SUPERNATURAL FORCES
ReplyDeletelines 162-164
A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear;
Thrice she looked back, and thrice the foe drew near.
The sylphs are trying to warn Belinda that the foe is approaching
Invocation to the muses is one of the common characteristics of epics, that is used in The rape of the lock. It is used for inspiration and for assistance, especially at the beginning which it is used in this reading. In canto I lines 3-6. It says "I sing -- This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due; This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays. This is when the story starts and he says what inspired him to write the story and prove his point of how little things can start a huge fight!
ReplyDeleteNonexistent linguistic barriers
ReplyDeleteEveryone speaks the same language, including the Sylphs who are supernatural/otherworldly so it would be understandable if they spoke something other than english since on Earth every couple hundreds of miles there is either a) a variation of one language or b) a totally different language.
Description of warefare
ReplyDeletein "the rape of the lock" pope uses descriptive language to describel Belinda's hairpin as her weapon. "Her infant grandmame's whistle next it grew. The bells she jinglesd, and the whitle blew; Then in a bodkin graced her mather's hairs. Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears" (Pope 261-264). Pope describes how the hairpin was passed down through generations na dtook many forms before Belinda aqquired it.
In Rape of the Lock I noticed that the sylphs and Ariel had a big part in coming to the rescue in times of dire need for Balinda. It was some what comical that they made such a big deal of one lock of hair being cut off. Also, the sylphs were made up to be so wonderful and that they were saviors and the were their biggest strength.
ReplyDeleteInvocation to the Muses - I sing--This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due; (Line 3)
ReplyDeleteRape of the Lock features this element of an epic to tell the trivial tale of Belinda and the Count. This element is constantly used in every epic.
Action- consists of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage.
ReplyDeleteIn lines 180-190 I saw the epic characteristic of Action in the victor cutting the hair. It shows superhuman courage by describing how he actually went and cut Belinda’s hair and then took pride in it and bragged about it, “”The glorious prize is mine’” (Pope 188). It's proven to be such a superhuman act because of the way everyone reacts to this little lock of hair being cut off and turning it into this huge issue like a war or some sort of law being broken. Also, in lines 260-270 I thought also displayed action because Belinda is taking the courageous action to fight back for the lock that she lost and doing so with just her hair pin. In a way I could see it as her being so upset that she wanted her revenge instantly and used what she had available to her as her weapon.
Duncan
ReplyDeleteIn rape of the locke, one epic element is the supernatural. Ariel, the sylph, warns Belinda that something bad is going to happen and Ariel tries to protect Belinda. Also, Belinda's hair goes up in the space and becomes a star.
One main epic characteristic in ROTL is the sytle, of grand simplicity. One of the examples in from lines 61-64. "Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; the fair each moment rises in her charms, repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, and calls forth all the wonders of her face." Pope uses charms, wonders and grace to give the story a very elegant feel.
ReplyDeleteOne characteristic of ROTL is supernatural forces. Such as Ariel, who came to Belinda in a dream warning her about people.
ReplyDelete"This to disclose is all a guardian can: Beware of all, but most beware of man!"
Ariel tries to warn Belinda about the guy who's going to cut her hair.
Pope uses the invocation to a Muse (in this case, calling on his friend John Caryll) to inspire him to tell the story as it happened, and as eloquently as possible.
ReplyDelete"I sing- This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due" (line 3).
Invocation to the muse:
ReplyDelete"What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing - This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due;"
Kelsey Macken
ReplyDeleteInvocation to the muses-
Line 2- "What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I Sing-This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due..."
Invocations to the muses:
ReplyDeleteconstantly the muses are brought up and called to and relied on to help guide the couple.
Line2: "what mighty contests rise from trivial things, This verse to Caryll, Muse!"
They also help tellthe story and make it more epic
An example of a supernatural force, an epic characteristic, would be in line 20 "Her guardian Sylph prolonged the balmy rest". This brings in the mythical and usually intriguing subject into the story drawing people in.
ReplyDelete