Saturday, September 17, 2011

Explain these lines in The Rape of the Lock: One speaks the Glory of the British Queen And one describes a charming Indian Screen.

These lines occur in Cant III of Pope's The Rape
of the Lock
. In these lines, Pope is speaking satirically with significant
irony and something of mocking ridicule. The setting Pope is describing is where "the
Heroes and the Nymphs" gather to "taste awhile the Pleasures" of the Queen's court, a
court where she does "sometimes Counsel take--and sometimes Tea." Incidentally, this
last quote underscores the irony and slightly mocking ridicule as a Queen is said to
take either counsel on important matters of state or "Tea" to ease her
appetite.

Pope goes on to say that the gathered heroes and nymphs
talked about “instructive” things while in "Talk th' instructive Hours they past," such
as, for example, "Who gave a Ball, or paid the Visit last." This line is replete with
satirical irony: there is nothing instructive about gossip about who gave a ball or
about who was the last to visit the Queen. The next two lines, the quote of your
excerpt, tell what other "instructive" things the heroes and nymphs at court talked
about.



One
speaks the Glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming
Indian
Screen
;



These
topics prove to be as empty and idle as the other "instructive" topics. One--probably
one of the heroes--talks about the "Glory" of their Queen, which is lovely and all, but
certainly not noteworthy. The other talks abut the features of a "charming
Indian Screen," an upright piece of wooden furniture made in India
with fabric panels and folding hinges used to separate parts of a room from other parts.
Pope is satirically ridiculing the ironic level of thought and insight that is revealed
by the speakers' conversation.

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