No More Learning

In the social satires of Pope's great admirer,
Byron, we are at no loss to perceive the ideal of personal liberty which
the poet opposes to the conventions he tears to shreds. Is it possible
to discover in 'The Rape of the Lock' any substitute for Belinda's
fancies and the Baron's freaks? The speech of Clarissa which Pope
inserted as an afterthought to point the moral of the poem recommends
Belinda to trust to merit rather than to charms. But "merit" is
explicitly identified with good humor, a very amiable quality, but
hardly of the highest rank among the moral virtues. And the avowed end
and purpose of "merit" is merely to preserve what beauty gains, the
flattering attentions of the other sex,--surely the lowest ideal ever
set before womankind. The truth is, I think, that 'The Rape of the Lock'
represents Pope's attitude toward the social life of his time in the
period of his brilliant youth. He was at once dazzled, amused, and
delighted by the gay world in which he found himself. The apples of
pleasure had not yet turned to ashes on his lips, and it is the poet's
sympathy with the world he paints which gives to the poem the air, most
characteristic of the age itself, of easy, idle, unthinking gayety. We
would not have it otherwise. There are sermons and satires in abundance
in English literature, but there is only one 'Rape of the Lock'.

The form of the poem is in perfect correspondence with its spirit. There
is an immense advance over the 'Essay on Criticism' in ease, polish, and
balance of matter and manner. And it is not merely in matters of detail
that the supremacy of the latter poem is apparent. 'The Rape of the
Lock' is remarkable among all Pope's longer poems as the one complete
and perfect whole. It is no mosaic of brilliant epigrams, but an organic
creation.
It is impossible to detach any one of its witty paragraphs and
read it with the same pleasure it arouses when read in its proper
connection. Thalestris' call to arms and Clarissa's moral reproof are
integral parts of the poem. And as a result, perhaps, of its essential
unity 'The Rape of the Lock' bears witness to the presence of a power in
Pope that we should hardly have suspected from his other works, the
power of dramatic characterization. Elsewhere he has shown himself a
master of brilliant portraiture, but Belinda, the Baron, and Thalestris
are something more than portraits. They are living people, acting and
speaking with admirable consistency. Even the little sketch of Sir Plume
is instinct with life.

Finally 'The Rape of the Lock', in its limitations and defects, no less
than in its excellencies, represents a whole period of English poetry,
the period which reaches with but few exceptions from Dryden to
Wordsworth. The creed which dominated poetic composition during this
period is discussed in the introduction to the Essay on Criticism, (see
p. 103) and is admirably illustrated in that poem itself. Its repression
of individuality, its insistence upon the necessity of following in the
footsteps of the classic poets, and of checking the outbursts of
imagination by the rules of common sense, simply incapacitated the poets
of the period from producing works of the highest order. And its
insistence upon man as he appeared in the conventional, urban society of
the day as the one true theme of poetry, its belief that the end of
poetry was to instruct and improve either by positive teaching or by
negative satire, still further limited its field. One must remember in
attempting an estimate of 'The Rape of the Lock' that it was composed
with an undoubting acceptance of this creed and within all these
narrowing limitations. And when this is borne in mind, it is hardly too
much to say that the poem attains the highest point possible. In its
treatment of the supernatural it is as original as a poem could be at
that day. The brilliancy of its picture of contemporary society could
not be heightened by a single stroke. Its satire is swift and keen, but
never ill natured.