He was born in London, very attached to his Roman Catholics parents, thus belonging to a proscribed sect. Being a self-taught man he read Greek, Latin, Italian and French, was very attached to Spenser and the metaphysical poets, and his model was Dryden. ‘Correctness’ became his study and aim. He was associated to the Whig party at first, but by 1713 went to the Tory party, presided by Swift, since Whigs were anti-Catholics.
Since original poetry was not remunerative, Pope earned quite a lot of money with translations like the Iliad and the Odyssey. The drastic changes of taste later in the 18th caused many Augustan writers to fall into disfavour, which made his sophistication appear merely a lack of ‘feeling’ and his satire merely malicious. In this century he has come once more to be highly regarded.
His basic features are: Satire as a weapon to expose political and economic exploitation, as well an attack on the corruption of modern life and letters. The determination to define and to refine the tastes of his age. A carefully-crafted poetic technique. The concern with precision and propriety, the use of parallelism and antithesis as main poetic devices
–The Rape of the lock: The significance and impact of this poem on the English literary scene is unquestionable, for it blends the most characteristic traits (rasgo) of 18th literature in England. The poem is deeply suggestive and breathes a profoundly evocative atmosphere, is one of Pope’s masterpieces and reaffirmed his mastery over the satiric mode.
It emerges as one of the most representative examples of the so-called ‘mockepic’ tradition, which basically consist in drawing on (aprovecharse) the conventions of epic poetry in order to expose the triviality of an ordinary event. Pope achieves this effect by an extraordinarily rhetorical and grandiose language similar to Homere’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Pope makes use of hyperboles, constant alteration of the habitual syntactic structure and creates a very unusual ‘divine apparatus’ made of sylphs and gnomes instead of gods and heroes. Pope deflates (desinflar) the most typical epic themes and symbols: the figure of the hero, and ridiculed the adventures. Instead of Achilles as the main protagonist we have Belinda, a woman who epitomises the ideals of beauty and elegance.
The poem is based on a real event, and Pope was commissioned to write it by John Caryll, who told Pope to write a humorous poem to encourage both families to laugh off about the whole event. Caryll’s main purpose was to reconcile the Petres and the Fermors since the latter believed that Arabella’s honour had been stained by the former. Pope constructs, in an apparently frivolous and loose style, a pungent (mordaz) and biting satirical attack on the social conventions of his time, focusing on the frailties (flaqueza) and trivialities of the world of belles and beaux.
-Canto I: The initial lines of the poem introduce Pope’s intention where he recognises the lightness of the subject he is going to deal with but uses a highly elevated and pompous language. We find that the contrast between words and the implications that lie beneath them start to emerge. Instead of gods and goddesses, the ‘divine machinery’ is composed of insignificant sylphs, nymphs and gnomes, regarded as ‘The Light Militia of the lower Sky’, clearly suggesting the enormous gap between the former, which form part of the classical mythology, and the latter, drawn from the French book Le Comte de Gabalis.
The poet also alludes to the changeable attitude of women and the repercussion it has on those who surround them, as well as their tendency to keep up appearances. In this canto, Pope exemplifies what the mock-epic is and how the poet uses the epic conventions to downgrade and ridicule the proper epic genre. Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid present gods and goddesses that guide in their adventures. Epic heroes are strongly controlled by the gods, and in TROL Sylphs teach women to exalt their beauty and to cultivate their physical appearance
Main characters: Belinda, and Ariel, a mysterious creature, which main function is to watch over the ‘belles’ and ‘beaux’ in order to protect their honour and integrity, and to encourage them to embellish their image. Ariel proclaims from his heavenly counterpoint that a dreadful event will come to pass which states the implications of the parody of the scene: Ariel resembles Zeus but is a insignificant sylph, while Zeus is an almighty deity; Ariel contemplates a trivial fact while Zeus observes the horrors of war, death and destruction.
Mock-epic strategies: In this canto, Pope sets out this complex poetic project as well as the way he is going to subvert the genre. He benefited (sacar provecho) from his recent translations of Homer’s Iliad, to construct his mock-epic poem. TROL shows a deeply elaborate body of connotations associated to battles or to war proper. However, the poem, instead of mirroring violence and cruelty, centres on trivial aspects such as a game of cards. Although the style is elevated, the reader can soon appreciate that his underlying intention is going to be humorous. The references to ‘trivial things’ or ‘slight subjects’ undermine any ‘serious epic’ reminiscence the poem could echo. The way Belinda makes herself up occasionally acquires the dimension of a rite, either pagan or religious, and Popes approaches Belinda’s toilette as thought it were a religious ceremony, also regards as a warrior that is preparing herself to go into the battlefield. Her weapons are ‘puffs, powders and patches’.
The formal apparatus: The poem’s strongholds (fortaleza) are the use of the ‘heroic couplet’ that Pope constantly employed in his poetic production. Elizabeth Gurr: ‘TROL is written in the rhythm of the iambic pentameter. Each line has five feet and each foot consists of two syllables, the second of which is stressed, and the rhythm is also known as decasyllabic. A rhymed pair of iambic pentameters is called heroic couplet. This first canto starts delineating the basic features of the language that is used throughout the poem. Pope’s language combines a grandiose literary form with the triviality implied by the words he uses. In this first canto, Pope uses two formal strategies: the inversion of the habitual syntactical order of words and the use of alliteration, a repetition of the same sound in a sequence (“Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-Doux’) with a mocking effect. Their resonance reminds us of the sounds that we can hear in the battlefield, however these words reveal the triviality of the scene.
–Canto II: The poet creates an idyllic scenario in which the sun-beams illuminate the silvery Thames, where Belinda’s beauty stands out (destacar) and resides in her hair. The Baron is mentioned for the first time, ‘the advent’rous baron’, a statement that clearly satirises the real dimension of a character that is not adventurous at all. The next lines illustrate how Pope uses mock-epic echoing the speeches and harangues epic heroes deliver before entering the battleground. The factor that turns this scene into a parody is that the Baron does not seek either to restore his stained honour or to rescue his beloved lady, but simply to cut off a lock from her hair. Pope devotes most of this canto to a description of the supernatural creatures in terms of gods and goddesses which occupy a heavenly position that allows them to observe and evaluate what happens on earth, and are in charge of safeguarding and protecting the moral and physical integrity of the ladies. Even Ariel is referred to as the commander-in-chief of this very peculiar battalion, which interventions finishes off by a very usual epic formula: ‘He spoke
Main characters: The Baron is the fictional alter-ego of Lord Petre, who contrives the rape of Belinda’s lock. It is relevant the way Pope characterises the ‘divine machinery’ with which he draws on epic imagery in order to portray the insignificance of these beings that reinforces the underlying mock-epic background.
Mock-epic strategies: The poet describes all the preparations that precede the battle and we can appreciate the solemnity of these preliminary moments. In the preparations for the combat, Ariel is in charge of assigning duties and motivating his army to defend Belinda’s honour, establishing a ridiculous comparison with the great epics
Formal apparatus: Pope uses the so-called ‘zeugma’, a device consisting in employing on word to designate two drastically different actions within the same line. He employs caesura in order to distinguish the different implications of each part of the line, and this allows us to perceive the comical dimension of this passage. The incongruity of this line lies precisely on the contradictory nature of terms it links, especially ‘honour’ and ‘brocade’. Belinda gives the same importance to praying and attending masquerades. Issues connected with the heart are mixed up casually with minor matters
–Canto III: The beginning of this one is the most satirical. Retaking the image of the Thames illuminated by the fading sun, Pope presents a biting portrait of England at the time, concentrating on the state of monarchy and the judiciary, for he criticises the excessive idleness of the noble and aristocratic classes. They go over their pending cases very quickly which manifests the professional involvement of jugdes. The poem focuses on the game of card reminding us the battles Homer depicted on his epic poems, with a prolific warfare terminology that intensifies the mock-epic atmosphere of the poem. The Baron eventually manages to cut off Belinda’s lock, and with this rape Belinda’s integrity is momentarily degrade, and her defeat is consummated.
Main characters: Belinda is regarded as a trivial and superficial lady, exclusively concerned with her outward appearance and dedicated to the numerous social events she has to attend. When the game commences, she gets to know the Baron’s intentions, which leads her to adopt a much more vigilant position, trying to position adequately her ‘troops of cards’. The terminology that is associated with Belinda usually has an underlying sexual connotation, especially when the lock is mentioned. The Baron’s desire to get Belinda’s lock projects in some sense his own sexual appetites. The allusion to virginity in line 140 turns out to be significant and proves the fact that what Pope is describing is not merely a lock being cut off.
Mock-epic strategies: Cards live through the same hardships and fears as of real soldiers, and Pope dramatises it by means of the language he employs, with which they become personified. Pope always leaves some clues to encourage a humorous perspective. The serious transcendence is deflated by references to China pots, brocades, liquors that do not fit in the epic context. The formal apparatus: The language is extremely elaborate and ornamented. ‘For lo!’ is a very distinguishable formula form for drawing the reader’s attention.
Canto IV: The opening lines depict the aftermath (secuelas) of the combat. An outstanding element is the so-called “Cave of Spleen”, which is entirely filled with crooked (deshonesto) creatures performing activities related to sex. Umbriel, a gnome that descendes to the Cave, as Ulysses did in the Underworld, describes the Goddess Spleen’s realm. The vision of ghosts and sudden appearances significantly resemble all that Ulysses experiences in the underworld. Following very typical epic patterns, Umbriel addresses Goddess Spleen and asks her to help Belinda get her lock back, and his speech is also tinged (estar matizado) by the same sense of triviality and looseness. Belinda emerges as an enraged and hysterical woman, attitudes that 18th satirists criticised about woman’s behaviour. The last lines portray a tense dialogue between Sir Plume and the Baron, which shows how the finesse that has been the key in the previous cantos is suddenly dropped.
Main characters: There are two important aspects: Belinda assumes that her life can no longer be sustained on her external appearance because it is ephemeral; and she partially blames herself for her flirtatious disposition.
Mock-epic strategies: Two moments that come to demystify classical epic narratives. One is Ulysses’ ordeal (dura experiencia) in the world of the dead in which he encounters important characters and listens to mythical stories about the past of their nation. Pope uses an analogous framework in other to subvert one of the most significant aspects of epic poetry. While Ulysses encounters sorrow and death in the Underworld, Umbriel sees jars, bottles, and instead of stories about the mythical past of any nation, he only listens to “Goose-pye” talks. The second moment is Belinda’s lament with which Pope toys with parallelism with Achille’s mourn for the death of his closest friend, and her grief about a nuisance (incordio). Pope disguises this apparent triviality by means of a language that almost impels us to sympathise with Belinda’s sorrow.
The formal apparatus: Pope keeps an elevated style that tries to emulate the language of classical epics, and inverts the usual syntactical structure of the sentence. It is interesting the textual references we find in it and which seem to pay homage to Homer’s epic poetry. It seems that Pope, with the mention of Ulysses in line 82, wants the reader to be aware of that parallelism.
–Canto V: From the first lines of Clarissa’s speech we can see that the prevailing tone is going to be a moralising one. The nymph wonders why beauty is praised and good sense discarded, and why men can fall exclusively for the lady’s physical appearance, disregarding her spiritual or intellectual capacities. She also refers that ageing can affects ugly and beautiful alike. Nobody listening to her speech seems to agree with her. Then, the confrontation for the recovery of the lock breaks out again.
Main characters: Clarissa’s speech dismantles all the values of the English upper classes. It seems that Pope’s decision to add a new canto was due to the fact that all the characters required a kind of counterpart (homólogo) to refute and contradict the ideas they defend. Belinda appeared as a resigned woman who decided to begin a new life, but he change of her mood after Clarissa’s speech seems that Pope wanted to prove that women’s mood varied rapidly and unexpectedly.
Mock-epic strategies: Perhaps, it is canto V that best exemplifies what mock-epic is. The reason why Pope added a new section to the four-canto version he published in 1714 was because he wanted to insert a modern rendering of Sarpedon’s speech to Glaucus, taken from Homer’s Iliad. Both fragments are conceived as a warning about how ephemeral life is. Issues such as the triviality of fame run almost parallel courses in both texts. In some other moments where mock-epic can be appreciated: Belinda uses the weapons she has at her disposal, like puffs and powders, and she blows a kind of tobacco powder towards the Baron in order to make him sneeze. This enables her to take advantage and to finally regain her raped lock.
The formal apparatus: A constant use of parallelism and anaphora, two rhetorical devices that consist in the repetition of either complete grammatical structures or words (Clarissa’s speech). It responds to the urgent and dynamic style he uses in the description of the last battle. Inter-textual references are not only to Homer, also to Shakespeare and Partridge (his contemporary).