Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO BELINDA ON THE RAPE OF THE LOCK, by ALEXANDER POPE


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TO BELINDA ON THE RAPE OF THE LOCK, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pleas'd in these lines, belinda, you may view
Last Line: To have the rape recorded by his muse.
Subject(s): Hair; Jervas, Charles (1675-1739); Paintings And Painters; Poetry & Poets


Pleas'd in these lines, Belinda, you may view
How things are priz'd, which once belong'd to you:
If on some meaner head this Lock had grown,
The nymph despis'd, the Rape had been unknown.
But what concerns the valiant and the fair,
The Muse asserts as her peculiar care.
Thus Helens Rape and Menelaus' wrong
Became the Subject of great Homer's song;
And, lost in ancient times, the golden fleece
Was rais'd to fame by all the wits of Greece.
Had fate decreed, propitious to your pray'rs,
To give their utmost date to all your hairs;
This Lock, of which late ages now shall tell,
Had dropt like fruit, neglected, when it fell.
Nature to your undoing arms mankind
With strength of body, artifice of mind;
But gives your feeble sex, made up of fears,
No guard but virtue, no redress but tears.
Yet custom (seldom to your favour gain'd)
Absolves the virgin when by force constrain'd.
Thus Lucrece lives unblemish'd in her fame,
A bright example of young Tarquin's shame.
Such praise is yours -- and such shall you possess,
Your virtue equal, tho' your loss be less.
Then smile Belinda at reproachful tongues,
Still warm our hearts, and still inspire our songs.
But would your charms to distant times extend,
Let Jervas paint them, and let Pope commend.
Who censure most, more precious hairs would lose,
To have the Rape recorded by his Muse.





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