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  • Published: 3 September 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099511526
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 96
  • RRP: $14.99

The Rape of the Lock




'[It is] a whimsical piece of work...a sort of writing very like tickling' Alexander Pope

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE GEE

A 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.

  • Published: 3 September 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099511526
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 96
  • RRP: $14.99

About the authors

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was born on 21st 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 was crippled by it. He never grew taller than 4'6". He first published The Rape of the Lock when he was twenty-three years old in 1712. 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 young 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. Pope died on 30th May 1744.

Aubrey Beardsley

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.

Praise for The Rape of the Lock

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