Paradise Lost and Rape of the Lock
Paradise Lost and Rape of the Lock
When we think of an epic poem, we rapidly turn our minds to a world of adventures and deeds of heroic or legendary figures. Amongst the greatest epic poems stands John Milton’s Paradise Lost, a traditional epic based on the biblical story of the “fall of mankind”. There also exists a form of satire of the classical epic poem that adapts the elevated heroic style to a trivial subject; this is called a mock epic. Alexander Pope wrote by these means the Rape of the Lock, a humorous depiction of a frivolous society. The title itself reveals the grandiose exaggeration of unimportant situations and the implication of importance upon otherwise obviously superficial attitudes. Even thought there is a difference in context between these epics, both of them call for reason and wisdom from us readers, and of our questioning of life profound inquiries. The most obvious and simple things sometimes are the hardest to see and understand. There are passages from each of these epic poems which to me seem closely related, pointing in a similar direction, and if carefully analyzed would shed us some light upon the reality of suffering that comes by being subject to change, of life and death, and of the possibility of finding a fundamental direction, a “dominant” in the midst of impermanence, by possessing mind, by an internal attitude, where for example the values of good and evil exists solely in function of an end. We can also find a relation in the lives of these two poets and how their difficulties were overcome by a mighty “will to power”1, in the sense of acting according to one means and understanding. In Paradise Lost, the character of Satan is the outright protagonist and epic hero of the story. He is well aware of his situation in Hell and also of the consequences of his revolt against God. Having a keen understanding of the powers of perception and of personal reaction to one's environment he comments to his fellowmen:
Infernal
When we think of an epic poem, we rapidly turn our minds to a world of adventures and deeds of heroic or legendary figures. Amongst the greatest epic poems stands John Milton’s Paradise Lost, a traditional epic based on the biblical story of the “fall of mankind”. There also exists a form of satire of the classical epic poem that adapts the elevated heroic style to a trivial subject; this is called a mock epic. Alexander Pope wrote by these means the Rape of the Lock, a humorous depiction of a frivolous society. The title itself reveals the grandiose exaggeration of unimportant situations and the implication of importance upon otherwise obviously superficial attitudes. Even thought there is a difference in context between these epics, both of them call for reason and wisdom from us readers, and of our questioning of life profound inquiries. The most obvious and simple things sometimes are the hardest to see and understand. There are passages from each of these epic poems which to me seem closely related, pointing in a similar direction, and if carefully analyzed would shed us some light upon the reality of suffering that comes by being subject to change, of life and death, and of the possibility of finding a fundamental direction, a “dominant” in the midst of impermanence, by possessing mind, by an internal attitude, where for example the values of good and evil exists solely in function of an end. We can also find a relation in the lives of these two poets and how their difficulties were overcome by a mighty “will to power”1, in the sense of acting according to one means and understanding. In Paradise Lost, the character of Satan is the outright protagonist and epic hero of the story. He is well aware of his situation in Hell and also of the consequences of his revolt against God. Having a keen understanding of the powers of perception and of personal reaction to one's environment he comments to his fellowmen:
Infernal