I’ve chosen this section from early on in Canto One of The Rape of the Lock because for me it captures what is the essential wonder of the poem. I love the idea that the central absurdity of a true life event which saw a broken engagement and a rift between two families over the illicit cutting of a lock of hair could inspire a poem at all. Add to that the idea that writing the poem was suggested to Pope to potentially help the situation; this seems to me particularly wonderful.
One of my favourite lines is in this section of the poem – “Know, then, unnumber’d spirits round thee fly, The light militia of the lower sky.” I love particularly the idea of this protective world of fairies and spirits around Pope’s heroine. Pope hopes here, I think, to create and lift the mood, to begin a fairy tale. It’s a long way from the serious rift which had split two families apart.
I love the idea of a light militia of the lower sky looking out for us though…
The Solitary Reader 