The Rape of the Lock
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1712, enlarged 1714
- Form
- Satire
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 40 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Major WorksOxford World's Classics, 2008Pat Rogers's selection, which gives all three poems Adler names with notes, in one volume.
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A mock-epic in five cantos, written to reconcile two Catholic families after Lord Petre cut a lock of hair from Arabella Fermor. Belinda wakes, is warned in a dream by the sylph Ariel, dresses at her toilet as a hero arms for battle, and sails up the Thames to Hampton Court, where after coffee and a game of cards the Baron snips her lock with a pair of scissors. The gnome Umbriel fetches spleen from the underworld, a battle of fans and frowns follows, and the lock rises to heaven as a star. The 1714 version added the machinery of sylphs and gnomes.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Rape of the Lock are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
