Page 233 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes rhetorical device in which a word modifies two other words or phrases in a parallel construction,
modifying each according to a different sense. In this instance, “take” modifies both “counsel” and
“tea,” but one does not take counsel and tea in the same way. The zeugma thus reveals Hampton
Court as a palace that hosts both matters of state and social diversions. Similarly, in the second
verse-paragraph, some of Belinda’s companions discuss balls and visits while another “speaks the
glory of the British Queen, / And one describes a charming Indian screen” (13-4). While some
members of the party relate stories about their social engagements, the references to the “British
Queen” and “Indian screen” serve as reminders of the world outside of Hampton Court. In particular
the words “British” and “Indian” evoke the British Empire, worlds away from the comfort of
Hampton Court. The serving of coffee, “which makes the politician wise, / And see through all
things with his half-shut eyes” likewise suggests British trade and a political world beyond the
amusements of this aristocratic party (117-8). Pope’s use of parallel constructions within the heroic
couplet thus reveals the serious matters that exist outside of the lords’ and ladies’ gossip.

24.1.4 The Rape of the Lock: Canto IV

Summary

Belinda’s “anxious cares” and “secret passions” at the loss of her hair eclipse the “rage, resentment,
and despair” felt by captured kings, scorned virgins, tragic lovers, and unrepentant tyrants (1, 2, 9).
After the Sylphs withdraw, weeping at their failure to protect Belinda, a Gnome named Umbriel
descends to the center of the earth to the Cave of Spleen. (During the eighteenth century, the spleen
was associated with the passions, melancholy and discontentment in particular.) During his descent,
he passes “a grotto, sheltered close from air,” in which Belinda reclines, afflicted by pain and a migraine
(21). Two handmaidens attend to Belinda in her distress: Ill-Nature and Affectation.
Mists and vapors shroud the palace of Spleen. Grotesque figures of fiends and specters line Umbriel’s
path, their “bodies changed to various forms by Spleen” (48). In this splenetic world everything is
upside-down or inverted: “Men prove with child” (53). Carrying a sprig of “spleenwort” for
protection against these fantastic figures, Umbriel arrives safely in the depths of the cave and
addresses the Goddess of Spleen. Umbriel enumerates his mischievous acts which range from causing
a beautiful woman to break out in pimples to convincing men that their wives are cuckolding them.
He asks the goddess to “touch Belinda with chagrin” (77). Though dismissive, the goddess grants
his wish. She gives the Gnome a bag containing “sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues”
and a vial with “fairing fears, / Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears (84, 85). Umbriel
takes the goddess’ gifts and ascends from the Cave of Spleen to Hampton Court Palace.
The Gnome returns to find Belinda in a disheveled and dejected state while being comforted by her
friend Thalestris. (In Greek mythology, Thalestris was an Amazon; Pope’s use of the name suggests
a fierce, combative woman.) Umbriel empties the contents of the goddess’ bag on the two women,
fueling Belinda’s ire. Now outraged, Thalestris attempts to convince Belinda to avenge the wrongs
committed by the Baron. In a speech full of rhetorical flourishes, Thalestris warns Belinda that the
Baron will display her hair for the amusement of others, which will thereby endanger Belinda’s
honor and reputation: “I / Already hear the horrid things they say, / Already see you a degraded
toast, / And all your honor in a whisper lost” (107-10).
Unable to rouse Belinda, Thalestris goes in a rage to Sir Plume, her own beau, asking him to demand
the return of the hair. Sir Plume addresses the Baron in an unintelligible speech filled with eighteenth-
century slang. The Baron mocks his manner of speaking and haughtily refuses to honor the request.
He vainly displays the honors he has won, claiming that “this hand, which won it, shall forever
wear” (138).
Upon the Baron’s refusal, Umbriel releases the contents of the goddess’ vial. The contents of the vial
cause Belinda to cry self-piteously and languish in her “beauteous grief” (143). She curses the day’s
events and bemoans her fate, wishing that she had never entered fashionable society but rather

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