Neo-Classical/Augustan Poetry: Portrait of Zimri – John Dryden and The Rape of the Lock – Alexander Pope

·         Didactic satire  for social reformation

·         Use of classical and Biblical imagery

Portrait of Zimri – John Dryden

1.      The Portrait of Zimri is a section from the satire “Absalom and Achitophel”

2.      Its aim is to criticise those involved in the rebellion against Charles II, the king of England

3.      The rebellion was led by king’s bastard son Duke of Monmouth

4.      He was encouraged to rebel against his father by Earl of Shaftsbury, Duke of Buckingham

5.      The satire contain sections called ‘portraits’ of the various characters involved

6.      Real life people are given biblical names

7.      Absalom = Duke of Monmouth, Achitophel = Earl of Shaftsbury  

8.      Zimri, another Biblical character, is the Duke of Buckingham

9.      Zimri is a man without a particular aim in life: But in the course of one revolving moon/ Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon. 

10.  Here, Dryden is alluding to Plato’s idea that each person has a ‘function’

11.  When one performs the function one is best at, then that person is happy and society becomes just and peaceful 

12.  He is not moderate: Railing and praising were his usual themes/And both to show his judgement in extremes

13.  In addition, Zimri had wasted all his wealth on foolish schemes on the advice of people around him

14.  By presenting Zimri and Achitophel as a inconsistent, immoderate, and wasteful character, Dryden is trying to shift the blame of the rebellion on them

                                                        

Themes

·         A person must perform a particular function allocated to him/her

·         A person must be consistent and moderate

Techniques

·         Each couplet a description that goes towards to create an overall negative picture of Zimri

·         Irony – In squandering wealth was his particular art; He had his jest, and they had his estate

The Rape of the Lock – Alexander Pope

1.      Base on a real incident in which Lord Peter had cut a lock of hair of Arabella Fremor

2.      Pope wrote this mock epic to show how ridiculous it was for two families to quarrel over such a small matter

3.      The given section is the opening of the poem

4.      The first stanza is the traditional invocation to the Muse – [Caryll is a mock-Muse]

5.      The opening line reminds one of the opening lines of the epic Aenid by Virgil  

6.      Belinda, the heroin of the mock epic, is having a dream sent by her guardian sylph

7.      In her dream she is dreaming of a handsome well-dressed young man whispering into her ears

Themes

·         Vanity and immoderate behaviour leads to conflicts

Techniques

·         Satire – In tasks so bold can little men engage/ And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage

·         Invocation to Muses

·         Rhetorical questions – Say what motive, Goddess! Could compel/ A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?

·         Paradoxes – “dire offences” springing from “amorous causes”; “mighty contests” rising from “trivial things”

·         Personification of the sun: Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray/ And opt those eyes that must eclipse the day