The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems Part 20

"n.o.body was angry but Sir George Brown, and he was a good deal so, and for a long time. He could not bear that Sir Plume should talk nothing but nonsense."

'124 a clouded cane':

a cane of polished wood with cloudlike markings. In the 'Tatler', Mr.

Bickerstaff sits in judgment on canes, and takes away a cane, "curiously clouded, with a transparent amber head, and a blue ribband to hang upon his wrist," from a young gentleman as a piece of idle foppery. There are some amusing remarks on the "conduct" of canes in the same essay.

'133'

The baron's oath is a parody of the oath of Achilles ('Iliad', I, 234).

'142'

The breaking of the bottle of sorrows, etc., is the cause of Belinda's change of mood from wrath as in l. 93 to tears, 143-144.

'155 the gilt Chariot':

the painted and gilded coach in which ladies took the air in London.

'156 Bohea:'

tea, the name comes from a range of hills in China where a certain kind of tea was grown.

'162 the patch-box:'

the box which held the little bits of black sticking-plaster with which ladies used to adorn their faces. According to Addison ('Spectator', No.

81), ladies even went so far in this fad as to patch on one side of the face or the other, according to their politics.

CANTO V

'5 the Trojan:'

aeneas, who left Carthage in spite of the wrath of Dido and the entreaties of her sister Anna.

'7-36'

Pope inserted these lines in a late revision in 1717, in order, as he said, to open more clearly the moral of the poem. The speech of Clarissa is a parody of a famous speech by Sarpedon in the 'Iliad', XII, 310-328.

'14'

At this time the gentlemen always sat in the side boxes of the theater; the ladies in the front boxes.

'20'

As vaccination had not yet been introduced, small-pox was at this time a terribly dreaded scourge.

'23'

In the 'Spectator', No. 23, there is inserted a mock advertis.e.m.e.nt, professing to teach the whole art of ogling, the church ogle, the playhouse ogle, a flying ogle fit for the ring, etc.

'24'

Painting the face was a common practice of the belles of this time. 'The Spectator', No. 41, contains a bitter attack on the painted ladies whom it calls the "Picts."

'37 virago:'

a fierce, masculine woman, here used for Thalestris.

'45'

In the 'Iliad' (Bk. XX) the G.o.ds are represented as taking sides for the Greeks and Trojans and fighting among themselves. Pallas opposes Ares, or Mars; and Hermes, Latona.

'48 Olympus:'

the hill on whose summit the G.o.ds were supposed to dwell, often used for heaven itself.

'50 Neptune:'

used here for the sea over which Neptune presided.

'53 a sconce's height:'

the top of an ornamental bracket for holding candles.

'61'

Explain the metaphor in this line.

'64'