The Rape of the Lock

Overview

WHAT dire offence from am rous causes springs What mighty contests rise from trivial things... In a world apparently light-years away from the Me Too movement huge offence was caused in the early 18th-century when Lord Petre cut a lock of society beauty Arabella Fermor s hair, provoking scandal and disgrace. Pope wrote the poem in an effort to reconcile Miss Fermor, immortalised as Belinda. The mock-heroic poem, light, elegant and witty, was an immediate success and remains a classic of English literature. Roland Pym completed the illustrations in the 1980s, but they have not been published until now.

Author Biography

Alexander Pope is regarded as one of the greatest English poets, and the foremost poet of the early eighteenth century. He is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry, including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, as well as for his translation of Homer.