The Rape of the Lock Blog Post -Sydney Snow

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Howdy y'all!

So, first things first, I do not necessarily like reading/writing/interpreting poetry, especially poems like this one. I do not completely understand the language and that stresses me out. I had a really hard time reading and figuring out what was going on. I must admit that I read several outside sources to help me piece together what I think is going on. In all honesty, I did not particularly like this reading.

While reading, two things popped into my head:
1) I was reminded of Eve from Milton's "Paradise Lost." Eve saw herself as basically the most beautiful thing. Belinda reminds me of Eve. In my understanding of the reading, Belinda and Pope see her (Belinda) as beautiful beyond just beauty. Everyone basically worships her. 
2) The poem seemed to have a thread of vanity in it. I know Pope was talking about Belinda, but it also appeared that she felt the same about herself in the poem. I was reminded of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Multiple times through the book, the phrase "all is vanity" is brought up a lot. And while reading, all I could think of was vanity.

I hope you guys can understand the way my brain was functioning as I read through the poem.

Sydney Snow

I commented on Clabo's and Madison's posts.

Comments

Caroline Tucker said…
Sydney, you have some great thoughts. I did not think of the similarities between Eve and Belinda. That is interesting to think about. I remember, in Paradise Lost, where Eve is staring at her reflection for long time. That instance parallels with how long Belinda takes to do her “toilet,” which she has to look at her reflection for a long time to accomplish. It is interesting to see similarities between the two. I agree, reading poetry can be hard and frustrating.
November 11, 2019 at 9:12 PM
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