The Rape of the Lock

Last week we have been analisyng in deep detail The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope. Here I will relate it with Aubrey Vincent Beardsley.

First of all, Aubrey was born the 21 of August in 1872 and died in 1898, he was an English illustrator, critic, author and painter. His drawings made in black and white focused on emphasizing the grotesque, the decadent and the erotic characteristics.

For The Rape of the Lock he made a total of nine pictures divided between the Cantos. Each picture reffers to a certain moment inside the poem and, I think we can locate each picture between a rather small amount of verses inside the poem.

The first one is called “The Morning Dream”, we are in Canto I and I think we can locate it between verses 19-23:

“Belinda still her downy pillow press’d,
Her guardian Sylph prolong’d the balmy rest:
’Twas he had summon’d to her silent bed
The morning-dream that hover’d o’er her head,"

 The Second one is called "The Billet-doux", Canto I, verses 42-46

“He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long, Leap’d up, and waked his mistress with his tongue. ’Twas then, Belinda, if report say true, Thy eyes first open’d on a billet-doux; Wounds, charms, and ardours, were no sooner read, But all the vision vanish’d from thy head.”

The Third one is called "The Barge", Canto III, verses 143-148:

“And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. The busy Sylphs surround their darling care, These set the head, and those divide the hair, Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown: And Betty’s praised for labours not her own.”

The Forth one is called "The Baron's Prayer", Canto II, verses 42-46

“And breathes three amorous sighs to raise the fire.
Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize:
The powers gave ear, and granted half his prayer,
The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air.”

 



The Fifth one is called "The Barge", Canto III, verses 13-18:

“One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.
Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.”

The Sixth one is called "The Rape of the Lock", Canto III, verses 125-130:

“But when to mischief mortals bend their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace
A two-edged weapon from her shining case:
So ladies in romance assist their knight,”

The Seventh one is called "The Cave of Spleen", Canto IV, verses 10-16:

  

“For, that sad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew,
And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew,
Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite,
As ever sullied the fair face of light,
Down to the central earth, his proper scene,
Repair’d, to search the gloomy cave of Spleen.”

The Eighth one is called "The Battle of the Beaux and Belles", Canto V, verses 33-34:

“Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.’”

 The Last one is called "The New Star", Canto V, verses 147-150:

 

 “And all those tresses shall be laid in dust,
This lock the Muse shall consecrate to fame,
And ‘midst the stars inscribe Belinda’s name.”

These ideas are no more than my own opinion, I may be right or not. Everything can be discussed or contrasted. Anyway any new idea or opinion is welcome to this concept.

List of sources:

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Lock

-http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_Beardsley
-http://www.iberlibro.com/Set-eight-engravings-illustrate-Lysistrata-BEARDSLEY/2632907556/bd
-http://www.mystudios.com/artgallery/A/Aubrey-Vincent-Beardsley/Illustration-for-%27The-Rape-of-the-Lock%27.html