The quote you have cited occurs in Canto III of this great
mock epic, and comes during the card game that Belinda plays with two of her suitors.
Reference is made to various sylphs and spirits who sit on cards, protecting them for
Belinda. Thus it is that the description of this game is then interrupted by the
following small stanza, which incorporates the section of the text you have
outlined:
Oh
thoughtless Mortals! ever blind to Fate,
Too soon dejected, and too soon
elate!
Sudden these Honours shall be snatch'd away,
And curs'd for
ever this Victorious
Day.
This quote of course
foreshadows the "snatching away" of such "Honours" as winning a card game and also makes
us expect some kind of traumatic, cataclysmic disaster. Of course, Poe uses this to poke
gentle fun at the importance with which the lock of hair that was "raped" (itself an
incredibly strong word to describe such an event) was taken. The stanza introduces a
portentous tone through reference to "Fate" and the fickle nature of "Mortals," which
are "blind" to the powers of destiny and can range from dejection to elation. It is
important to note the mocking tone in this quote.
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