Author(s): Alexander Pope

Fiction

An ingenious satire of the battle of the sexes and the follies of a self-centred young lady, The Rape of the Lock, together with its mock-interpretation A Key to the Lock, is in fact a subtle commentary on the contemporary social world and high-society preoccupations, and a cleverly veiled proposal for reform. When Belinda awakes from a strange dream and sets about her favorite occupation, her toilette, little does she suspect that a tragedy of Homeric proportions is about to unfold around her. As she walks through the beau monde, admired as a goddess and protected by an entire host of sylphs, she is unaware that evil powers are at work to rob her of a precious lock of hair. Belinda must command all her female guile to protect this lock, for once surrendered, her life will never be the same again. Alexander Pope is the greatest English poet of the 18th century, with The Rape of the Lock universally regarded as his masterpiece.