The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems Part 32

'111 equal sky:'

impartial heaven, for the heaven of the Indians was open to all men, good or bad.

'113-130'

In this pa.s.sage Pope blames those civilized men who, though they should be wiser than the Indian, murmur against the decrees of G.o.d. The imperative verbs "weigh," "call," "say," etc., are used satirically.

'113 scale of sense:'

the scale, or means of judgment, which our senses give us.

'117 gust:'

the pleasure of taste.

'120'

The murmurers are dissatisfied that man is not at once perfect in his present state and destined to immortality, although such gifts have been given to no other creature.

'123 reas'ning Pride:'

the pride of the intellect which a.s.sumes to condemn G.o.d's providence.

'131-172'

In this pa.s.sage Pope imagines a dialogue between one of the proud murmurers he has described and himself. His opponent insists that the world was made primarily for man's enjoyment (ll. 132-140). Pope asks whether nature does not seem to swerve from this end of promoting human happiness in times of pestilence, earthquake, and tempest (ll. 141-144).

The other answers that these are only rare exceptions to the general laws, due perhaps to some change in nature since the world began (ll.

145-148). Pope replies by asking why there should not be exceptions in the moral as well as in the physical world; may not great villains be compared to terrible catastrophes in nature (ll. 148-156)? He goes on to say that no one but G.o.d can answer this question, that our human reasoning springs from pride, and that the true course of reasoning is simply to submit (ll. 156-164). He then suggests that "pa.s.sions," by which he means vices, are as necessary a part of the moral order as storms of the physical world (ll. 165-172).

'142 livid deaths':

pestilence.

'143-144'

Pope was perhaps thinking of a terrible earthquake and flood that had caused great loss of life in Chili the year before this poem appeared.

'150 Then Nature deviates':

Nature departs from her regular order on such occasions as these catastrophes.

'151' that end:

human happiness, as in l. 149.

'156'

Caesar Borgia, the wicked son of Pope Alexander VI, and Catiline are mentioned here as portents in the moral world parallel to plagues and earthquakes in the physical.

'160 young Ammon':

Alexander the Great. See note on 'Essay on Criticism', l. 376.

'163'

Why do we accuse G.o.d for permitting wickedness when we do not blame Him for permitting evil in the natural world?

'166 there':

in nature.

'here':

in man.

'173-206'

In this section Pope reproves those who are dissatisfied with man's faculties. He points out that all animals, man included, have powers suited to their position in the world (ll. 179-188), and a.s.serts that if man had keener senses than he now has, he would be exposed to evils from which he now is free (ll. 193-203).

'176 To want':

to lack.

'177'

Paraphrase this line in prose.

'181 compensated':

accented on the antepenult.