The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings

by Alexander Pope, Leo Damrosch (Editor)

The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings is a collection of Alexander Pope's greatest works, edited with an introduction by Leo Damrosch in Penguin Classics.

Alexander Pope was the greatest English poet of his age, whose acerbic insights into human nature have entered the language, and whose verse still astonishes with its energy and inventiveness centuries after his death. This new selection of Pope's work follows the path of his poetic genius over his lifetime. It contains early poems including the masterly mock-epic 'The Rape of the Lock', which satirizes a notorious society scandal through glorious heroic couplets, the brilliantly aphoristic 'An Essay on Criticism' and excerpts from his translation of the Iliad. Later poems represented include Pope's ironic adaptations of Horace's Epistles, Satires and Odes, and the remarkable 'Dunciad', a stinging attack on his literary rivals and the mediocrity of Grub Street hacks. Here too are selected prose works and letters from Pope to his contemporaries such as John Gay and Jonathan Swift.

This edition contains a wide-ranging introduction that elucidates Pope's life, poetic art and contemporary contexts, as well as separate introductions to each piece, a chronology, further reading, a biography and extensive notes.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was born in London in 1688, the son of a well-to-do Roman Catholic cloth merchant. In 1709 he launched his career with a set of four pastorals, followed by An Essay on Criticism, Windsor Forest and the mock-epic Rape of the Lock, which cemented his reputation as the greatest poet of the age. Later works included the Dunciad, Epistles to Several Persons and the ambitious Essay on Man.

If you enjoyed The Rape of the Lock, you might like Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, also available in Penguin Classics.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Essays, 18th Century, Philosophy, British Literature

528 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2008

About the author

People best remember The Rape of the Lock (1712) and The Dunciad (1728), satirical mock-epic poems of English writer Alexander Pope.

Ariel, a sylph, guards the heroine of The Rape of the Lock of Alexander Pope.


People generally regard Pope as the greatest of the 18th century and know his verse and his translation of Homer. After William Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson, he ranks as third most frequently quoted in the language. Pope mastered the heroic couplet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand...

Reviews

[₊⋆˚⊹ soph °♡⋆.ೃ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

just handed in my term paper about this and im content 🥳

[Billy Groble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essay on criticism 5- thought I was fantastic with great arguments and awesomely witty

Rape of the lock 4- some of the aristocratic satire was tough to parse but with some help, pretty funny and interesting

Essay on man 3- one paragraph I love, the rest seems a little bit trite

Eloisa to Abelard 4- good juxtaposition of the holy and profane

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genius but tough going, not for the unprepared

[foolishOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

it all happened because of hair?? well, yes that makes sense, justice for Belinda.

[bella phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

such jokes

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

mpreg? In my penguin classic?? four stars

[Abby Borchers · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair it was for class and I didn’t read the entire thing, but Pope is straight-up a mastermind. Incredibly precise with his language. Almost on par with John Donne for me

[Caomhghain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Pope takes you into a civilised (and often self-satisfied) world which has expectations which other civilised beings often fail to live up to. His poetry is supple and smooth, seducing you into agreeing with his every word. It is seldom anything but beautiful even when the subject is not. And there is a range here which you forget after not reading him for many years - from the Rape of the Lock to the Dunciad. The former is silky in its use of language and irony, the latter blunter - both are highly enjoyable.

[Sameen Shakya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexander Pope was a remarkable poet who wrote during the Augustan age of English poetry. His words, dripping with wit, intelligence and sarcasm made for poems that weren't what we, the contemporary audience, might see as poetry but one so successful in what they set out to do that he became the greatest poet of his age.

The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings by Alexander Pope collects most of his essential works and going through it, my love for Pope and his poetry only increased.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

18 Century British Lit

[Kostia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pope