Lesson 3 Journal Entry #

Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 10 of

Journal Exercise 3.6A: Mock vs. Real Epic

The Rape of the Lock" literally means "the violent theft of a lock of hair" and is based on a real incident. This mock epic examines the relationships between men and women in high society of the eighteenth century. A mock epic is a comic narrative poem, written in dignified language, which parodies the serious epic genre by treating a trivial subject in a lofty, grand manner.

Language

Alexander Pope was famous for translating Homer's "Odyssey" and "Iliad" into heroic couples. The "Rape of the Lock" makes use of poetic, heroic couplets along the veins of his own translation of these ancient epics.

In the original Greek works, poetic devices are meant to dignify heroic exploits with the language of poetry. Homeric epic makes use of certain catch-phrases to describe the actors and situations. Pope's mock-epic uses epic poetic techniques to describe an absurd social situation to make it seem more absurd.

The role of the gods

Homeric epic involves the gods in actual doings of human affairs. However, while the affairs are serious, there is a certain humorous aspect to Zeus' infidelities and fights with his children.

Pope's epic makes use of angelic creatures that oversee Belinda's 'toilet,' but the consequences of the poem's actors and actions are trivial, resulting in the carrying away of Belinda's hair, rather than the destruction of an entire city. Also, the mock-epic participants cannot protect her or really interfere with human affairs on a deep and meaningful level, unlike Homer's Olympian gods.

Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 11 of 16

Journal Exercise 3.6B: Alexander Pope

List five examples of antithesis found in Alexander Pope's "Heroic Couplets." Identify the parallelism in each example.

Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, / 'Tis ours to trace him only in our own. (God may know of infinite worlds, but we can only see and examine God's nature in our own earthly universe). "This hour a Slave, the next a Deity" (One minute the human race is like a beast of the field in his or her mentality or condition, but the next moment human beings resemble gods because of their rationality) "Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate, / All but the page prescribed, their present state;" (God hides from all living beings on earth the future, but only the present moment is revealed.) "Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, / a hero perish or a sparrow fall," (in the eye of the omnipotent God, the fall of a great hero or a small bird is all the same). "Man never is, but always to be, blest." (Humanity is not blessed when dwelling on earth, but as human beings are the creation of God, after death we will be blessed when the soul returns to its maker).

In almost every sentence in our excerpt from "An Essay on Man," Pope says something flattering about the human race, only to follow it with something critical. What characteristics does he think we should be proud of? What does he think we should be ashamed of?

Pope respects reasoned piety, science, rationality, and not blaming God for one's success or lack of success. He respects those individuals who submit to humanity's order and place in the universe, and do not see themselves as above God. But he also thinks humanity should try to accomplish great things, like science and art, as they are a part of God's creation and God is a great creator.

Do you disagree with any of Pope's opinions or pronouncements in the Heroic Couplets or "An Essay on Man"?

Pope is critical of individuals who "cry, if man's unhappy, God's unjust," suggesting that the unhappiest people are people who blame God, rather than themselves for all of their troubles, or who curse God because their lives are imperfect. The need to accept life's imperfections while still working to enact positive changes within the limitations of humanity is a positive message still relevant for people today.

Based on what you have read of "The Rape of the Lock," what do you think the poem's theme or central message is? What or who are the objects of his satire? Does the epic, "The Rape of the Lock" apply in any way to society today? Identify two passages that could serve as satiric commentaries on people's behavior today. Your answer should discuss both the passage and the comment that applies to contemporary life.

An "Essay on Man" condemns people who are vain, and who confuse their own social or personal role and social aspirations in general with more important things, like God's ultimate purpose in creating the universe, much like Belinda and her suitor in "The Rape of the Lock." "The Rape of the Lock" reminds the modern reader of the paparazzi's intrusive obsession with taking pictures and scavenging in the garbage of the rich, famous, and trivial, like the snipping or rape of Belinda's hair and even the war of cards, which is analogous to the modern obsession with celebrity poker and other hobbies and habits.

Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 12 of 16

Journal Exercise 3.7A: Analyzing Humor

Satire relies on many techniques usually associated with comedy, including

Exaggeration: Pangloss' optimism, Candide's naivete, the Eldorado inhabitants disdain of gold, the level of sexual corruption of the Pope and other pious individuals

Understatement: cool attitude of narrator towards Cunegonde's rape, death of Candide's adopted parents, the cutting off of the 'buttocks' of the Pope's bastard daughter