Rape of the Lock and Other Poems | Page 2

THE FIRST EDITION OF THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

INTRODUCTION
Perhaps no other great poet in English Literature has been so differently
judged at different times as Alexander Pope. Accepted almost on his

first appearance as one of the leading poets of the day, he rapidly
became recognized as the foremost man of letters of his age. He held
this position throughout his life, and for over half a century after his
death his works were considered not only as masterpieces, but as the
finest models of poetry. With the change of poetic temper that occurred
at the beginning of the nineteenth century Pope's fame was
overshadowed. The romantic poets and critics even raised the question
whether Pope was a poet at all. And as his poetical fame diminished,
the harsh judgments of his personal character increased. It is almost
incredible with what exulting bitterness critics and editors of Pope have
tracked out and exposed his petty intrigues, exaggerated his
delinquencies, misrepresented his actions, attempted in short to blast
his character as a man.
Both as a man and as a poet Pope is sadly in need of a defender to-day.
And a defense is by no means impossible. The depreciation of Pope's
poetry springs, in the main, from an attempt to measure it by other
standards than those which he and his age recognized. The attacks upon
his character are due, in large measure, to a misunderstanding of the
spirit of the times in which he lived and to a forgetfulness of the special
circumstances of his own life. Tried in a fair court by impartial judges
Pope as a poet would be awarded a place, if not among the noblest
singers, at least high among poets of the second order. And the flaws of
character which even his warmest apologist must admit would on the
one hand be explained, if not excused, by circumstances, and on the
other more than counterbalanced by the existence of noble qualities to
which his assailants seem to have been quite blind.
Alexander Pope was born in London on May 21, 1688. His father was a
Roman Catholic linen draper, who had married a second time. Pope
was the only child of this marriage, and seems to have been a delicate,
sweet-tempered, precocious, and, perhaps, a rather spoiled child.
Pope's religion and his chronic ill-health are two facts of the highest
importance to be taken into consideration in any study of his life or
judgment of his character. The high hopes of the Catholics for a
restoration of their religion had been totally destroyed by the

Revolution of 1688. During all Pope's lifetime they were a sect at once
feared, hated, and oppressed by the severest laws. They were excluded
from the schools and universities, they were burdened with double
taxes, and forbidden to acquire real estate. All public careers were
closed to them, and their property and even their persons were in times
of excitement at the mercy of informers. In the last year of Pope's life a
proclamation was issued forbidding Catholics to come within ten miles
of London, and Pope himself, in spite of his influential friends, thought
it wise to comply with this edict. A fierce outburst of persecution often
evokes in the persecuted some of the noblest qualities of human nature;
but a long-continued and crushing tyranny that extends to all the details
of daily life is only too likely to have the most unfortunate results on
those who are subjected to it. And as a matter of fact we find that the
well-to-do Catholics of Pope's day lived in an atmosphere of
disaffection, political intrigue, and evasion of the law, most
unfavorable for the development of that frank, courageous, and
patriotic spirit for the lack of which Pope himself has so often been
made the object of reproach.
In a well-known passage of the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot', Pope has spoken
of his life as one long disease. He was in fact a humpbacked dwarf, not
over four feet six inches in height, with long, spider-like legs and arms.
He was subject to violent headaches, and his face was lined and
contracted with the marks of suffering. In youth he so completely
ruined his health by perpetual studies that his life was despaired of, and
only the most careful treatment saved him from an early death. Toward
the close of his life he became so weak that he could neither dress nor
undress without assistance. He had to be laced up in stiff stays in order
to sit erect, and wore a fur doublet and three pairs of stockings to
protect himself against the cold. With these physical defects he had the
extreme sensitiveness of mind that usually accompanies chronic ill
health, and this sensitiveness was outraged incessantly by