An appreciation of Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock"

I was going through a few of Alexander Pope's poems on the internet and came across "The Rape of the Lock". Unlike what I thought it to be, the poem came with a very interesting theme and underlying message. Hence I decided to put up my feelings after reading the poem on the blog.

Belinda - a beautiful upper class maid from London - prepares herself for a big party in Hampton Court: she puts on a pretty dress and wears a good perfume. Then she sets off for

Hampton Court. Once there, her beauty excites all men. They try to woe her, and she responds to them politely. But one of her admirers, a baron, had decided to steal a lock of Belinda's hair as a souvenir. He woes Belinda too, and she is flattered.

However, at one point, the baron ceases himself an opportunity and cuts a beautiful lock of Belinda's curls. Belinda is saddened and highly enraged by this. She fights the baron to gain her lock of hair back, and even though she wins the battle, the hair is nowhere to be found. The narrator then says that the lock of hair has risen to heaven and transformed into a star.

I had problems deciphering the meanings and motifs of the poem at first. After much hard work, I understood that the poet, Alexander pope, wrote this poem to undermine the fuss that the members of high society make over unimportant things, such as a piece of decoration.

However, we should also keep in mind that Pope based the poem on a real life incident as such in the high society of London. He shows, via another character, how funny it is to mourn and fight over unimportant and irrelevant things.

I appreciate the witticism of Alexander Pope for having written such a poem.