The Rape of the Lock

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Rape of the Lock
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Alexander Pope
Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley
Introduction by Sophie Gee
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:96
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenrePoetry by individual poets
Classic fiction (pre c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9780099511526
ClassificationsDewey:821.5
Audience
General
Illustrations 12 b&w illustrations

Publishing Details

Publisher Vintage Publishing
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publication Date 2 August 2007
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

' It is a whimsical piece of work ... a sort of writing very like tickling' Alexander Pope WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE GEEA hideous crime is committed at a fashionable London society gathering. The victim is the beautiful, innocent Belinda, her attacker is the dastardly Baron, and his weapon of choice is a pair of scissors...Pope's mock-epic is the sharp and witty tale of the most famous bad hair day in the history of literature.

Author Biography

Alexander Pope was born on 21 May 1688. He was brought up a Roman Catholic at a time where the laws of England were prejudicial towards Catholics. He suffered tuberculosis as a child and as a consequence never grew taller than 4'6". He first published The Rape of the Lock when he was twenty-three years old in 1712. Its success made him a celebrity in polite society. He later added to it in 1714 and 1717. It was written to reconcile two families who had fallen out over a similar incident where a Lord Petre had cut off a lock of hair from Arabella Fermor's head. Pope went on to translate the works of Homer and produce The Dunciad and An Essay on Man. He died on 30 May 1744.

Reviews

Brilliant... triumphant. Never has so great a poem emerged from so trivial a cause -- Peter Ackroyd One of the jewels of the Augustan age * Sunday Times *