No More Learning

'118'

Does this line mean that Belinda had never seen a billet-doux before?


'119 Wounds, Charms, and Ardors':

the usual language of a love-letter at this time.


'124 the Cosmetic pow'rs':

the deities that preside over a lady's toilet. Note the playful satire
with which Pope describes Belinda's toilet as if it were a religious
ceremony. Who is "th' inferior priestess" in l. 127?


'131 nicely':

carefully.


'134 Arabia':

famous for its perfumes.


'145 set the head':

arrange the head-dress.


'147 Betty':

Belinda's maid.



CANTO II

'4 Launch'd':

embarked.


'25 springes':

snares.


'26 the finny prey':

a characteristic instance of Pope's preference or circumlocution to a
direct phrase.


'35-36'

A regular formula in classical epics. In Virgil (XI, 794-795) Phoebus
grants part of the prayer of Arruns; the other part he scatters to the
light winds.
'38 vast French Romances':

these romances were the customary reading of society in Pope's day when
there were as yet no English novels. Some of them were of enormous
length. Addison found several of them in a typical lady's library, great
folio volumes, finely bound in gilt ('Spectator', 37).


'58 All but the Sylph':

so in Homer (1-25), while all the rest of the army is sleeping Agamemnon
is disturbed by fear of the doom impending over the Greeks at the hands
of Hector.


'60 Waft':

wave, or flutter.


'70 Superior by the head':

so in Homer ('Iliad', III, 225-227) Ajax is described as towering over
the other Greeks by head and shoulders.


'73 sylphids':

a feminine form of "sylphs. "


'74'

This formal opening of Ariel's address to his followers is a parody of a
passage in 'Paradise Lost', V, 600-601.


'75 spheres':


either "worlds" or in a more general sense "regions. "

'79'

What are the "wandering orbs," and how do they differ from planets in l.
80?


'97 a wash':

a lotion for the complexion.


'105'

Diana, the virgin huntress, was in a peculiar sense the goddess of
chastity.


'106 China jar':

the taste for collecting old china was comparatively new in England at
this time. It had been introduced from Holland by Queen Anne's sister,
Queen Mary, and was eagerly caught up by fashionable society.


'113 The drops':

the diamond earrings.