Hi there!
I'm posting this for two reasons; first, to see if I can/know how to post on the blog, and second to voice my frustration.
"The Rape of the Lock" has reignited my passionate (and somewhat irrational) hatred of poetry.
However, I am trying my hardest to understand it, and wanted to let everyone else who feels the same way that they are not alone.
I hear ya, Ashley. I just finished reading Canto III and the most I got out of it was that Belinda was playing a card game and then all the sudden a fight starts. I don't mind poetry, but I just don't understand this particular one. When you read it, it's like a coded message and you have to decipher it.
ReplyDeleteA few things to keep in mind:
ReplyDelete-this poem was written 300 years ago and the English language has made some "slight" changes since then.
-the over-dramatization that Pope uses in his elevated language and description of Belinda "arming herself for battle" when she's really just going to play cards, is an example of Pope's "mock-heroic" style. He was writing in the Age of Augustan - the Neo-Classical age that focused on the formal stylings of the Greek and Roman writings.
In other words, he's being difficult on purpose.
This is good food for thought - bring these ideas/questions/complaints with you to class and hopefully we'll discover the answers together.
MCC
I agree with Brittany, it is like a challenge, a game rather, to try and figure out what on earth is going on. As much as I get frustrated, I'm hoping in the end it will be a sigh of relief.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Britt as well. I actually like poetry (at least somewhat) and I dislike this one. I understand the form of language and the time setting makes it more confusing but it's a challenge to understand and comprehend.
ReplyDelete