Finished: The Rape of the Lock; Eloisa to Abelard; An Unfortunate Lady; and Ode on Solitude (Pope). Loved reading these poems! I'd never read the history of Alexander Pope, or what an esteemed, yet controversial, poet he was. The book I have, The Best of Pope, is my son's. I believe he got it at an old book sale. It IS very old. Inside the cover is written W. D. Durden, Jr.; KA House; Emory. I love that! I was a KA little sister, a Southern Belle, so it is neat to read a book that belonged to an old KA. His syllabus for the class, English 204, is still in the back of the book as well. :-) I googled his name and it looks like W. D. Durden, Jr. wrote many medical journal articles in the 1960's. His wife was referenced in one article as having been class of '54 at University of Tennessee. Just thought that was neat to look up. :-)

Anyway...back to the poems....I absolutely loved The Rape of the Lock! And, Eloisa to Abelard broke my heart. It makes me want to read an entire novel about the unfortunate lovers. I've never seen the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but I've heard of it. I was so surprised to see that very line in Pope's poem from the 1700's! It was Eloisa's lament that she'd rather have her feelings for Abelard wiped from her memory than to remain in love with someone she can no longer have.

How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires composed, affections ever even;
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to heaven.

In The Rape of the Lock, Pope wrote an almost 1000 line poem dedicated to the feud between a Lady and the Lord who cut off a lock of the Lady's hair! It is a really delightful poem, complete with airy spirits called Sylphs, and the like, who attend to all of the Lady's moods, outer appearances, etc. I'd recommend reading the entire poem, but here are a few of my favorite passages. :-)

Love the imagery of this one:

   Sol through white curtains shot a tim'rous ray,
And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day:
Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake,
And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake:
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground,
And the pressed watch returned a sliver sound.
Belinda still her downy pillow prest,
Her guardian SYLPH prolonged the balmy rest:
'Twas He had summoned to her silent bed
The morning-dream that hovered o'er her head...

Talking about the beauty of Belinda, and first describes her locks of hair:

Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,
Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide:
If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.
   This Nymph, to the destruction of mankind,
Nourished two Locks, which graceful hung behind
In equal curls, and well conspired to deck
With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck.
Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains,
And mighty hearts are held in slender chains,
With hairy springes we the birds betray,
Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey,
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.

Ariel, the chief Sylph, calls the others Sylphs and Fairies to guard Belinda against doom he feels will happen:

    Our humbler province is to tend the Fair,
Not a less pleasing, though less glorious care;
To save the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprisoned essences exhale;
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flowers;
To steal from rainbows e'er they drop in showers
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs;
Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow,
To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow.
   This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair,
That e'er deserved a watchful spirit's care;
Some dire disaster, or by force, or sight;
But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night,
Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,
Or some frail China jar receive a flaw;
Or stain her honour or her new brocade;
Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at the ball;
Or whether Heaven has doomed that Shock must fall.
Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair:
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine:
Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite Lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock.

The Baron, who had many female conquests, decides he must have a lock of Belinda's hair, no matter what:

   Th' advent'rous Baron the bright locks admired;
He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired.
Resolved to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a Lover's toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.

The Baron gets the help of one lady love, Clarissa, and, despite the efforts of the Sylphs, snips the lock of Belinda's hair:

   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,
Present the spear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little engine on his fingers' ends:
This just behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head.
Swift to the Lock a thousand Sprites repair,
A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear;
Thrice she looked back, and thrice the foe drew near.
Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought
The close recesses of the Virgin's thought;
As on the nosegay in her breast reclined,
He watched th' Ideas rising in her mind,
Sudden he viewed, in spite of all her art,
An earthly Lover lurking at her heart.
Amazed, confused, he found his power expired,
Resigned to fate, and with a sigh retired.
   The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.
Even then, before the fatal engine closed,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interposed;
Fate urged the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain,
(But airy substance soon unites again)
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
   Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,
When husbands, or when lap-dogs breathe their last;
Or when rich China vessels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie!

Belinda laments her snipped lock:

   "For ever cursed be this detested day,
Which snatched my best, my fav'rite curl away!
Happy! ah ten times happy had I been,
If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen!...

...A Sylph too warned me of the threats of fate,
In mystic visions, now believed to late!
See the poor remnants of these slighted hairs!
My hands shall rend what even thy rapine spares:
These in two sable ringlets taught to break,
Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck,
The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone,
And in its fellow's fate foresees its own;
Uncurled it hangs, the fatal shears demands,
And tempts once more, they sacrilegious hands.
Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize,
Hair less in sight, or any hairs but these!"

And, the poem continues on. I could really just copy the whole thing hear, but I'll probably re-read and enjoy it again. :-)