Rape of the Lock / Edition 1

by Cynthia Wall, Alexander Pope, Cynthia Sundberg Wall

Overview

Tillotson's seminal edition includes comprehensive annotation, the 1712 version of the poem as well as the 1714 version, and a substantial amount of critical material in appendices. No student of Pope can afford to be without this classic edition

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312115692
Publisher:	Bedford/St. Martin's
Publication date:	12/28/1997
Series:	Bedford Cultural Editions Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.57(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an English poet. Born in London to a family of Catholics who were later expelled from the city during a period of religious persecution, Pope was largely self-educated, and struggled with numerous illnesses from a young age. At 23, he wrote the discursive poem An Essay on Criticism (1711), a manifesto on the art of poetry which gained him the admiration and acclaim of influential critics and writers of his day. His most famous poem, The Rape of the Lock (1712), is a mock epic which critiques aristocratic English society while showcasing Pope’s mastery of poetic form, particularly the use of the heroic couplet. Pope produced highly acclaimed translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which transformed Homer’s ancient Greek dactylic hexameter into a contemporary rhyming English verse. His work The Dunciad (1728-1743), originally published anonymously in Dublin, is a satirical poem which lampoons English literary society and criticizes the moral and intellectual decay of British life. Second only to Shakespeare for the frequency with which he is quoted, Alexander Pope succumbed to his illnesses at the age of 56 while at the height of his fame and productivity.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION, NOTE ON TEXT, KEY TO NOTES, THE RAPE OF THE LOCK: An Heroi-Comical poem in five Canto’s APPENDICES A THE RAPE OF THE LOCKE (I7I2 VERSION) B SYLPHS C THE HEROIC COUPLET D THE LIFE OF POPE

Editorial Reviews

Reprints the text of Pope's classic poem, both the five-canto 1714 version and the facsimile of the original 1712 version, together with a broad selection of documents putting the poem in the social and historical context of Pope's 18th century. Selections include correspondence, poems, broadsides, reviews, and parodies. Documents focus on Pope's life and career as well as on 18th-century poetic traditions and innovations, social habits, historical events, and political implications. Includes a general introduction on historical and cultural background, a chronology of Pope's life, an introduction to each thematic group of documents, headnotes, and b&w illustrations. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"Brilliant . . . triumphant. Never has so great a poem emerged from so trivial a cause."  —Peter Ackroyd

From the Publisher