Alexander Pope, The Rape of the

Lock (1712, new version 1713,

final version 1717)
1. The settings of the poem:
(a) the "internal" locations where
the action takes place (Belinda's
boudoir; the drawing room)
(b)
the "external" locations
mentioned in the poem ("the
Ring" = Hyde Park; "the Thames",
"Hampton Court"; "the Mall" and
"Rosamunda's Lake" = St James's
Park )
the internal and external locations
of the poem determine the social
class which will the subject of
parody in Pope's text = the
aristocracy of London
2. The principle of classical
poetics - the notion of decorum
(the adjacency of subject matter and styje)
(a)"an heroi-comical poem" =
mock heroic epic (echoes of the Iliad, the Aeneid, Paradise Lost)
(b) the clash between the conventions of the epic and the fashionable
lifestyle of London
aristocracy (we read the text as a social satire)
(c) the heroic couplet: iambic pentameter + rhyme scheme AABBCC
4.

levels of interpretation:
I.
the nature spirits - the Rosicrucian mythology
II.
the poem as a mock heroic epic
the epic conventions as they appear chronologically in the text and how is the
parody of these conventions achieved:
INVOCATION
A DREAM MESSAGE FROM THE GODS
ARMING THE HERO
SACRIFICE TO THE GODS
EXHORTATION TO THE TROOPS
SINGLE COMBAT
EPIC FEAST

JOURNEY TO THE UNDERWORLD

GENERAL COMBAT
INTERVENTION OF THE GODS
APOTHEOSIS
III.
the poem as a mock heroic epic - the parody of John Milton's Paradise Lost
IV.
the poem as a social satire on London aristocracy, with particular
emphasis on women
What was the Rosicrucian Movement?
The movement belongs to late Renaissance Hermetism. The Rosicrucians were a
mysterious sect which originated in Germany, in a Lutheran milieu. They
represent the tendency of Renaissance occultism to go underworld in the 17th
century, transforming what once was an outlook associated with dominant
philosophies into a preoccupation with secret sects. The beginnings of that
group were associated with the publication of certain texts, one of them being
The (Al)chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz. Anno 1459 (1616) - a
feigned autobiography narrated by a hermit, who sets out on a pilgrimage
journey and takes part in initiation mysteries.
What was Hermetic Philosophy?
The Renaissance recovers the cultural heritage of classical antiquity. Among the
texts studied by -the Italian Humanists were the magical treatises written
between 100 A.D. and 300 A. D.. They came to be known as Corpus
Hermeticum. They contain a mixture of popular Greek philosophy of the period,
esp. Platonism and Stoicism, combined with Jewish and Persian influence.
Corpus Hermeticum praises intuitive knowledge. The hermetic treatises usually
culminate in some form of ecstasy in which the adept is satisfied -that lie has
received, an illumination. Because it was believed that Egypt was the original
home of all knowledge, the magical religion of Egypt was identified with the
Hermetic religion of the world. When a Greek manuscript of Corpus Hermeticum
is brought to Florence in 1640, Cosimo de Medici, the Florentine aristocrat
orders a translation of this work - assigned to Marcilio Ficiino. Translated, the
work gains immense popularity because it is mistakenly taken for a sacred,
book, earlier even than Plato, and therefore nearest to the divine truth, a source
for all the other texts. It was assumed that the author of this work was Hermes
Trismegistos (Three Times Great). The occult magical knowledge that develops
in the Renaissance under the influence of this work is referred to as Hermeticknowledge. It privileges intuitive knowledge and disclaims any connection with
evil or ignorant magic of the Middle Ages. It is closer to the philosophy of nature
and stresses the element of spiritual progress. Renaissance alchemy is closely
related to this phenomenon.
The Nature Spirits
source' www.sacred~texts.com (" The Elements and Their Inhabitants" )

Philippus Aureolas Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 14931541) the Swiss author of Philosophia Occulta , alchemist, Hermetic
philosopher

according to Paracelsus the four primary elements of Nature (earth, fire,

water and air) were composed of a vaporous principle and a corporeal
substance: as visible Nature is inhabited by living creatures, so Is the invisible
spiritual aspect of Nature inhabited by Nature spirits - elemental composed of a
transubstantial flesh (as opposed to the corporeal flesh we have inherited from
Adam); these elementals fall into four categories, depending upon the element
they are associated with

whereas man is composed of several natures (spirit, soul, mind and body),
the elementals have only one principle - the ether out of which it is composed
and in which it lives; what is meant by ether is the spiritual essence of the four
elements (therefore, they cannot be destroyed by the material fire, earth, water
and air)

being composed of one principle, the elementals have no immortal soul

and at death the-y merely disintegrate back into the element from which they
came (fire, water, air, earth); those elementals composed of earth ether are the
shortest lived, those composed of air ether are the longest lived

medieval mystics assigned a comer of creation (one of the cardinal points

- north, south, east, west) to each of the kingdoms of Nature spirits

the Christian Church gathered all the elementals under the name of
"demons" - misleading because the word demon implies evil; yet the elementals
must be distinguished from the incubus (male) and succubus <female) as well
as the vampire (defined by Paracelsus in De Ente Spirituali)

wars were fought within the groups themselves and between the different
elementals - Nature's apparent inconsistencies were credited to the elementals
(see -> Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream)
GNOMES

EARTH

NORTH

Gnomes were of various sizes, though most of them

Their ruler = GOB (hence his subjects were often
called goblins); they could marry and have families, were much smaller than human beings; they were
said to be of a tricky and malicious nature but, once
the female gnomes were called gnomides
their confidence was won, they proved faithful and
pygmies = work with stones, gems and metals, the true. If their trust was betrayed, they could cause
guardians of treasures, they live in caves
endless sorrow; because they lived in the darkness
hamadryads = live in trees and plants sylvestres,
of caves and in the gloom of the forest their
satyrs, pans, dryads, durdalis, elves, brownies = the temperament was said to be melancholy, gloomy
forest spirits
and despondent

UNDINES
(NYMPHS)

WATER

WEST

Their ruler = NECKSA

Undines were renowned for their beauty, full of
Controlling the water element - a feminine symbol - symmetry and grace; in appearance and size they
they are most often depicted as females (nothing closely resemble human beings though there were
known of male undines)
also diminutive undines who lived under lily pads;
they are rather emotional beings, friendly to human
There are many groups of undines depending on their life and fond of serving mankind; they are often
habitation - waterfalls, rivers, marshes, mountain pictured riding on dolphins or great fish
lakes; these water spirits were known under the
names of oreades, nereides, , sea maids, mermaids,
potamides
nymph - lived in fountains oceanid = lived in oceans

SYTPHS

AIR

EAST

SALAMANDERS

FIRE

SOUTH

Their ruler = PARALDA (said to dwell on the highest

mountain of earth) The female sylphs = sylphids
While the sylphs were believed to live among the
clouds and in the surrounding air, their true home
was upon the tops of mountains; Fairies
(Scandinavian origin?) - lived in Fairy Land (Alfheinner)

They have the senses in greater perfection than

man; they had the task of modeling snowflakes and
gathering clouds (the latter task with the cooperation
of the undines who supplied the moisture); they
lived hundreds of years and never seeming to grow
old; sometimes they assumed a human form, they
were said to gather round the mind of the dreamer,
the poet and the artist and inspire him with their
intimate knowledge of the beauties and workings of
Nature; their .temperament is mirthful, changeable,
their chief trait-inconsistency

They varied in their grouping and differed in size and Without them material fire cannot exist, a match
appearance:
cannot be struck ; the strongest and the most
b* some salamanders were visible as small bails of powerful of elementals; dangerous, of a fiery and
light, tongues of fire
tempestuous temperament; in both animals and
the most common form of the salamander was men the salamanders work through the emotional
the lizard-like shape, twisting and crawling in the nature by means of the body heat, the liver, and the
midst of fire
blood stream; without their assistance there would
Oromasis - a huge flaming giant in flowing robes,be no warmth
protected with shields of fiery armor
the magnificent and awe-inspiring DJIN = the ruler
of the Acthnici who appeared only as indistinct
globes;* they were supposed to float over water at
night