Husanova Farida The essence of the mock heroic in Alexander Pope's " The Rape of the Lock" Introduction

Poems and Translations (May 1712) in two cantos (334 lines); a revised

edition "Written by Mr. Pope" followed in March 1714 as a five-canto

version (794 lines) accompanied by six engravings. Pope boasted that

this sold more than three thousand copies in its first four days. The final

form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's

speech on good humour.The poem was much translated and

contributed to the growing popularity of mock-heroic in Europe

• Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in response to a request made my his friend John Caryll, a prominent Roman Catholic of the time. Caryll explained that his friend, Lord Petre, had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair. Ever since the incident, the families had been feuding. In order to make light of the situation, Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock. “The stealing of Miss Belle Fermor’s hair, was taken too seriously, and caused an estrangement between the two families, though they had lived so long in great friendship before. A common acquaintance and well-wisher to both, desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it, and laugh them together again. It was with this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock.”

The subject of my course paper is information about Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was born in London on 21 May 1688 during the year

of the Glorious Revolution. His father (Alexander Pope, 1646–1717) was

a successful linen merchant in the Strand, London. His mother, Edith

(1643–1733), was the daughter of William Turner, Esquire, of York. Both

parents were Catholics. His mother's sister was the wife of famous

miniature painter Samuel Cooper. Pope's education was affected by the

recently enacted Test Acts, a series of English penal laws that upheld the

status of the established Church of England, banning Catholics from

teaching, attending a university, voting, and holding public office on