Pope was asked to write "The Rape of the Lock" after a seemingly trivial incident blew up into a fight between the Fermor family and the family of Lord Petre. Lord Petre had become enamored of Arabella Fermor and cut off a lock of her hair without permission, starting the quarrel. You can find out more about this background in the link below.
Homer's Illiadalso is a background story for this mock heroic,...
Pope was asked to write "The Rape of the Lock" after a seemingly trivial incident blew up into a fight between the Fermor family and the family of Lord Petre. Lord Petre had become enamored of Arabella Fermor and cut off a lock of her hair without permission, starting the quarrel. You can find out more about this background in the link below.
Homer's Illiad also is a background story for this mock heroic, which pokes fun at a minor incident of hair cutting by exaggerating it to epic proportions. Using the Illiad as a frame highlights the differences between real problems, such a genuine war, and losing a lock of hair. For instance, the taking of Helen of Troy, a serious incident in the Illiad, becomes the frame for the taking of the lock of hair, making the uproar over the lock all the more ridiculous in comparison. A description of the famous warrior Achilles' shield becomes the description of a petticoat. Contemporary audiences, well-versed in classical literature, would have understood and appreciated the humor in this parody of the Illiad.
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