Alexander Pope's creativity is an important stage in the development of the English poetry in the age of the Enlightenment. Although the legacy of Alexander Pope has long been divided into the early "ad-satirical" period, yet the poet's main contribution to the history of literature is associated with his late ethical-philosophical and satirical works (Noggle 145). The compromise character of A. Pope's aesthetics makes it easier to "compound the neoclassical and rocaille artistic aspirations" and makes the genre of comic mock-heroic more natural (Noggle 146). His poem "The Rape of the Lock" is the result of a masterful poetic game, the sample of grace and wit, irony and imagination. This work involves a number of different social, religious, political, and moral aspects of human life, which are presented with the help of the numerous metaphors or symbols.
"The Rape of the Lock" as a reference to the rocaille poetry. This poem, which appeared in 1712, made a big impression, which has survived to this day. The readers of "The Rape of the Lock" will invariably find grace, ease, wit, and playfulness, i.e., the stylistic components of the rocaille poetry. The picture of grace, elegance, and harmony of composition and the style of the poem play a significant role in A. Pope's poetics along with the most important principles of neoclassicism. At the same time, the poet delicately experiments with a variety of the poetic forms and addresses the gaming poetic genres, i.e., "the mock-heroic genre" (Noggle 150).
The ironic pastiche and epic items. A. Pope's desire for an ironic imitation of epic is expressed gradually. For example, it is a secular young lady who acts as the valiant defender of her of virtue and not a warrior or a low comic character; sylphs and gnomes are graceful, they represent the "lighter" deputies of the gods from Homer's poems. Moreover, the card game is described as a heroic "battle" (not a historical battle, but not as a street brawl or a tavern brawl). The ironic effect is created by means of the play of various events and objects, and due to the epic associations with Milton and Homer. The ironic imitation of romantic epic drives the game with the help of the genre and stylistic clichés. Pope uses the characteristic epic epithets: "mighty, unconquerable, hoary, manly, royal rage, pompous, victor, warlike, imperial, haughty, barbarous, giant, refulgent", etc.
The symbolism and philosophical implication of the poem. The symbolism and philosophical overtones play a crucial role in this poem. The whole poem is permeated with irony: " How vain are all these glories, all our pains, / Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains; / That men may say when we the front box grace, / ‘Behold the first in virtue as in face!" (Pope V. 15-8). The author uses it to draw attention to some serious problems of society and the state. The problem of the loss of one lock becomes the most important in the poem, though it is not a serious issue to write about. Nevertheless, Pope illustrates the symbolic battles associated with the rape of the lock, pointing to the hostility and misunderstanding of the sexes: "Know farther yet; Whoever fair and chaste / Rejects Mankind, is by some Sylph embrac'd" (Pope I. 67–70). Most of the text is devoted to the description of a dream, which is a deployed monologue that determines the ethical ideals. In addition, each character of the poem has a prototype, a political counterpart (Noggle 148). Belinda represents the United Kingdom; the Baron, who stole her curl, is the Earl of Oxford, etc.
Conclusion
Alexander Pope's ironic-comic poem "The Rape of the Lock" is one of the most important works of the English literature. It includes many different genres and techniques of artistic experimentation. Moreover, this poem is one of the main examples of rocaille poetry, as it is filled with irony and grotesque. In addition, the poem has the profound social and political implications that defines the ethical ideals of the author's era.
Works Cited
Noggle, James. Skeptical Sublime. Cary, US: Oxford University Press (US), 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 27 May 2016.
Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. Florence, US: Routledge, 2003. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 27 May 2016.
