McDougal Littell - British Literature (3) 601 - 900.pdf - Antologie i opracowania - Patrusiak

the rape of the lock 601

A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;

At every word a reputation dies.

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,

With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.

Meanwhile declining from the noon of day,

The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,

And wretches hang that jurymen may dine;

The merchant from the Exchange returns in peace,

And the long labors of the toilet cease.

Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites,

Burns to encounter two adventurous knights,

At ombre singly to decide their doom,

And swells her breast with conquests yet to come. . . .

The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace;

The embroidered King who shows but half his face,

And his refulgent Queen, with powers combined,

Of broken troops an easy conquest find.

Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen,

With throngs promiscuous strew the level green.

Thus when dispersed a routed army runs,

Of Asia’s troops, and Afric’s sable sons,

With like confusion different nations f ly,

Of various habit, and of various dye,

The pierced battalions disunited fall

In heaps on heaps; one fate o’erwhelms them all.

The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts,

And wins (oh, shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts.

At this, the blood the virgin’s cheek forsook,

A livid paleness spreads o’er all her look;

She sees, and trembles at the approaching ill,

Just in the jaws of ruin, and Codille.

And now (as oft in some distempered state)

On one nice trick depends the general fate.

An Ace of Hearts steps forth: The King unseen

Lurked in her hand, and mourned his captive Queen.

He springs to vengeance with an eager pace,

And falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace.

The nymph exulting f ills with shouts the sky,

The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. b

O thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,

Too soon dejected, and too soon elate:

Sudden these honors shall be snatched away,

And cursed forever this victorious day.

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned,

The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;

17 snuff: powdered tobacco that is

inhaled.

24 toilet: the process of dressing,

fixing one’s hair, and otherwise

grooming oneself.

27 ombre (JmPbEr) : a popular card

game of the day, similar to bridge.

30 King . . . face: the king of

diamonds, the only king shown in

profile in a deck of cards.

ueen:

resplendent or shining queen of

diamonds. The Baron is leading his

highest diamonds in an effort to win.

34 promiscuous (prE-mGsPkyL-Es) :

unsorted; level green: the green

cloth-covered card table.

36 Afric’s sable sons: Africa’s black

soldiers.

refulgent (rG-fMlPjEnt)

Knave: jack.

the virgin’s: Belinda’s.

46 Codille (kI-dClP) : a losing hand of

cards in ombre.

47 distempered: disordered.

48 nice: delicate; subtle; trick: a

single round of cards played and won.

Reread lines 53–54, imagining the

sounds that Pope describes. Write

a paraphrase of this couplet.

berries: coffee beans.

602 unit 3: the restoration and the 18th century

b ELEVATED LANGUAGE

On shining altars of Japan they raise

The silver lamp; the f iery spirits blaze:

From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,

While China’s earth receives the smoking tide.

At once they gratify their scent and taste,

And frequent cups prolong the rich repast.

Straight hover round the fair her airy band;

Some, as she sipped, the fuming liquor fanned,

Some o’er her lap their careful plumes displayed,

Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade.

Coffee (which makes the politician wise,

And see through all things with his half-shut eyes)

Sent up in vapors to the Baron’s brain

New stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain.

Ah, cease, rash youth! desist ere ’tis too late,

Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla’s fate!

Changed to a bird, and sent to f lit in air,

She dearly pays for Nisus’ injured hair!

But when to mischief mortals bend their will,

How soon they f ind f it instruments of ill!

Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace

A two-edged weapon from her shining case:

So ladies in romance assist their knight,

Present the spear, and arm him for the f ight.

He takes the gift with reverence, and extends

The little engine on his fingers’ ends;

This just behind Belinda’s neck he spread,

As o’er the fragrant steams she bends her head.

Swift to the Lock a thousand sprights repair,

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.

Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought

The close recesses of the virgin’s thought;

As on the nosegay in her breast reclined,

He watched the ideas rising in her mind,

Sudden he viewed, in spite of all her art,

An earthly lover lurking at her heart.

Amazed, confused, he found his power expired,

Resigned to fate, and with a sigh retired.

The Peer now spreads the glittering forfex wide,

To enclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.

Even then, before the fatal engine closed,

A wretched Sylph too fondly interposed;

Fate urged the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain

61 shining altars of Japan: small

lacquered tables. In mock-epic style,

Pope elevates the tables to altars.

64 China’s earth . . . tide: China cups

receive the hot coffee.

66 repast (rG-pBstP) : meal.

67 the fair: Belinda; her airy band:

the Sylphs (sGlfs) , supernatural

creatures attending Belinda. Epic

heroes and heroines are generally

aided by higher powers.

74 new stratagems (strBtPE-jEmz) . . .

gain: new schemes for acquiring a

lock of Belinda’s hair.

76–78 Scylla’s (sGlPEz) fate . . . Nisus’

(nFPsEs) injured hair: In ancient Greek

legend, Scylla was turned into a bird

because she betrayed her father, King

Nisus, by giving his enemy the purple

lock of his hair on which his safety

depended.

sprights (sprFts) : the Sylphs.

93 Ariel (ârPC-El) : Belinda’s special

guardian among the Sylphs.

95 nosegay: a small bouquet of

flowers.

100

101 the Peer: the Baron; forfex: a

fancy term for scissors.

105

the rape of the lock 603

The Rape (1896), Aubrey Beardsley. From The Rape of the Lock by Alexander

Pope. Line block print. CT46089. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

(But airy substance soon unites again):

The meeting points the sacred hair dissever

From the fair head, forever and forever!

Then f lashed the living lightning from her eyes,

And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies. c

Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,

When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last;

Or when rich china vessels fallen from high,

In glittering dust and painted fragments lie!

“Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,”

The victor cried, “the glorious prize is mine!

While f ish in streams, or birds delight in air,

Or in a coach and six the British fair,

As long as Atalantis shall be read,

Or the small pillow grace a lady’s bed,

While visits shall be paid on solemn days,

When numerous wax-lights in bright order blaze,

Reread lines 107–110. Which

details in these couplets highlight

the contrast between the actual

incident that occurs and Belinda’s

exaggerated reaction?

110

115

115 wreaths . . . twine: In epics,

victors or champions traditionally

wore laurel wreaths as a kind of

crown.

118 coach and six: a coach drawn by

six horses.

119 Atalantis: The New Atalantis

by Mary Manley, a thinly disguised

account of scandal among the rich.

120

604 unit 3: the restoration and the 18th century

c HEROIC COUPLET

125

While nymphs take treats, or assignations give,

So long my honor, name, and praise shall live!

“What time would spare, from steel receives its date,

And monuments, like men, submit to fate!

Steel could the labor of the Gods destroy,

And strike to dust the imperial towers of Troy;

Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,

And hew triumphal arches to the ground.

What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel,

The conquering force of unresisted steel?” d

125

date: end.

130

127–128 the labor of the Gods . . .

towers of Troy: Troy, an ancient city

famous for its towers, whose walls

were said to have been built by the

Greek gods Apollo and Poseidon.

d MOCK EPIC

In lines 125–132, what humorous

effect does Pope create by using

lofty language and allusions to

Greek mythology?

In Canto 4, following an epic tradition, a melancholy sprite

descends to the Underworld—which Pope calls the “Cave of

Spleen”—and returns to the party with a vial of grief and

“f lowing tears” and a bag of “sobs, sighs, and passions,” which

are emptied over Belinda’s head, fanning her fury even further.

135

from canto 5

“To arms, to arms!” the f ierce virago cries,

And swift as lightning to the combat f lies.

All side in parties, and begin the attack;

Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack;

Heroes’ and heroines’ shouts confusedly rise,

And bass and treble voices strike the skies.

No common weapons in their hands are found,

Like Gods they f ight, nor dread a mortal wound. . . . e

See, f ierce Belinda on the Baron f lies,

With more than usual lightning in her eyes;

Nor feared the chief the unequal f ight to try,

Who sought no more than on his foe to die.

But this bold lord with manly strength endued,

She with one f inger and a thumb subdued:

Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,

A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw;

The Gnomes direct, to every atom just,

The pungent grains of titillating dust.

Sudden, with starting tears each eye o’erf lows,

And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.

“Now meet thy fate,” incensed Belinda cried,

And drew a deadly bodkin from her side.

(The same, his ancient personage 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:

133 virago (vE-räPgI) : a woman who

engages in warfare or other fighting.

She has come to Belinda’s aid at

Ariel’s request.

136 whalebones: elastic material

from whales’ mouths, used in corsets

or support undergarments.

140

e MOCK EPIC

What characteristics of a mock

epic do you find in lines 133–140?

145

145 endued (Dn-dLdP) : endowed;

provided with.

150

149 Gnomes (nImz) : supernatural

creatures bent on causing mischief.

152 And the high . . . nose: In other

words, he sneezes.

155

154 bodkin (bJdPkGn) : a long,

ornamental hairpin.

157 seal rings: signet rings bearing a

person’s family crest or initials.

the rape of the lock 605

McDougal Littell - British Literature (3) 601 - 900.pdf

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