The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems Part 21

The quotation is from a song in an opera called 'Camilla'.

'65'

The Maeander is a river in Asia Minor. Ovid ('Heroides', VII, 1-2) represents the swan as singing his death-song on its banks.

'68'

Chloe: a fanciful name. No real person is meant.

'71'

The figure of Jove weighing the issue of a battle in his scales is found in the 'Iliad', VIII, 69-73. Milton imitated it in 'Paradise Lost', IX, 996-1004. When the men's wits mounted it showed that they were lighter, less important, than the lady's hair, and so were destined to lose the battle.

'89-96'

This pedigree of Belinda's bodkin is a parody of Homer's account of Agamemnon's scepter ('Iliad', II, 100-108).

'105-106'

In Shakespeare's play Oth.e.l.lo fiercely demands to see a handkerchief which he has given his wife, and takes her inability to show it to him as a proof of her infidelity.

'113'

the lunar sphere: it was an old superst.i.tion that everything lost on earth went to the moon. An Italian poet, Ariosto, uses this notion in a poem with which Pope was familiar ('Orlando Furioso', Canto x.x.xIV), and from which he borrowed some of his ideas for the cave of Spleen.

'122'

Why does Pope include "tomes of casuistry" in this collection?

'125'

There was a legend that Romulus never died, but had been caught up to the skies in a storm. Proculus, a Roman senator, said that Romulus had descended from heaven and spoken to him and then ascended again (Livy, I, 16).

'129' Berenice's Locks:

Berenice was an Egyptian queen who dedicated a lock of hair for her husband's safe return from war. It was said afterward to have become a constellation, and a Greek poet wrote some verses on the marvel.

'132'

Why were the Sylphs pleased?

'133' the Mall:

the upper side of St. James's park in London, a favorite place at this time for promenades.

'136' Rosamonda's lake:

a pond near one of the gates of St. James's park, a favorite rendezvous for lovers.

'137' Partridge:

an almanac maker of Pope's day who was given to prophesying future events. Shortly before this poem was written Swift had issued a mock almanac foretelling that Partridge would die on a certain day. When that day came Swift got out a pamphlet giving a full account of Partridge's death. In spite of the poor man's protests, Swift and his friends kept on insisting that he was dead. He was still living, however, when Pope wrote this poem. Why does Pope call him "th' egregious wizard"?

'138' Galileo's eyes:

the telescope, first used by the Italian astronomer Galileo.

'140' Louis XIV of France,

the great enemy of England at this time

'--Rome:'

here used to denote the Roman Catholic Church.

'143 the s.h.i.+ning sphere:'

an allusion to the old notion that all the stars were set in one sphere in the sky. Belinda's lost lock, now a star, is said to add a new light to this sphere.

147 What are the "fair suns"?