Alexander Pope and His Mastery of the Heroic Couplet

The Rape of the Lock is an example of Alexander Pope's mastery of the usage of the heroic couplet and of his brilliant satire. Any passage within this poem holds vast information on the style of Pope and how it is typical of him. I chose the first twenty lines of the work to examine here and show how they are typical of Pope and what their importance and meaning is.

What dire offense from amorous causes springs,

What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

I sing - This verse to Caryll, Muse! Is due:

This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view:

Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,

If she inspire, and he approve my lays.

At first this stanza sounds like it is announcing something grand and truly terrible, something entirely disproportional to the actual incident. Then Pope stings with "trivial things". The language goes from being broad and powerful to being small and pinched. It has introduced the classic themes of love and war. Rape of the Lock is in mock-epic form. It is only fitting that this stanza includes a statement of the argument that Pope "sings", and then he dedicates it to a muse. The muse's name is Caryll - the name of the friend that came to Pope asking him to write about the feud between the families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre. The next line "This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view" is an example of Pope's extreme politeness and smoothness. The use of the word even elevates Belinda's status and indeed, she is a member of the upper class or beau-monde. Every word that Pope uses here is intentional. The next line shows how confident Pope was as a poet and how much he knew his own talent - "Slight is the subject, but not so the praise". He knew that this subject was much beneath his talent. It stresses the triviality of the subject and elevates the poetry. The last line is another example of Pope's extreme courtesy and politeness throughout this work and others.

Say what strange motive, Goddess! Could compel

A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?

Oh, say what stranger cause, yet unexplored,

Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?

In tasks so bold can little men engage,

And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?