Supernatural Machinery - The Rape Of The Lock - The Uncovered English
The Rape of the Lock
Alexander Pope
The Sylph Machinery is as Brower says, "Probably the largest single way in which Pope imparted the qualities of splender and wonder to his actors and actions" in The Rape Of The Lock. In the dedication addressing to Miss Arabella Fermor, Pope describes what he means by the Machinery of the poem. He writes, "The Machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the Deities, Angels or Daemons, are made to act in a poem..." The first version of The Rape Of The Lock was made up of only two cantos. Later on Pope saw the possibility of expanding it and he expanded it into a mock heroic poem, of five cantos by including into it the supernatural creatures like the Sylphs and Gnomes who seem to be the guiding force behind the central action of the poem. So G. Wilbon Knight commented in this context, "The light militia of the lower sky increase the dramatic suspense ... story depth ... and help to universalise semi humorously the whole action."
Pope also writes the utility of the Machinery, "The use of these machinery is evident since no epic poem can possibly subsist without them, the wisest way is to reserve them for your greatest necessities. When you cannot extricate your hero by any human means... such relief from heaven and the Gods will do your business readily." In Greek dramas, Gods and Goddesses were brought down from above on stage by measn of a machine hence the term Dews Ex Machine has come to be frequently used literary term.
Pope felt the need to introduce the machinery in The Rape Of The Lock after reading the book 'Le Comte de Gabalis' by French author Abbe-de Villars containing an account of Rosicrucian Doctrine of Spirits. According to this mythology the four elements are inhabited by spirits called Sylph (Air), Gnomes (Earth), Nymphs (Water) and Salamanders.
About them Pope writes:-
"The sprites of fiery termagants in flame
Mount up, and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,"
Only Sylph and Gnome are there in the poem.
The Sylph are supposed to attend on young women and serve them in all minute matters so long as they keep up their coquettish character resist all lovers. They are quite serious imagined with names to suit their particular charges:
Mount up, and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome,
In search of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,"
"The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Cripissa, tend her fav'rite lock;"
In mock heroic manner Pope has assigned them some serious tasks as:-
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Cripissa, tend her fav'rite lock;"
"Of these the chief the care of nation own,
And guard with arms divine the British throne."
Ariel is chief of the Sylph - whose name clearly reminds the Jolly spirit in Shakespeare's 'The Temptest' - who supplies all vital information regarding nature and function of the airy spirit to Belinda in her morning dreams. Ariel, imitations the role of the heroic leader like Jove and Satan orders his followers to perform their alloted duties:
And guard with arms divine the British throne."
"Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear!
Fays, fairies, Genii, Elves and Daemons, hear!
Ye know the spheres and various tasks assigned"
Pope also uses the Gnomes as the part of his supernatural machinery. The Gnomes in search of mischief skill on Earth to roam. They corrupt the woman being:
Fays, fairies, Genii, Elves and Daemons, hear!
Ye know the spheres and various tasks assigned"
"Tis these that early taint the female soul,
Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,"
The visit of Umbriel, a gnome, to the cave of Spleen reminds us one of the visit to underworld described in the epics and it is introduced for the sake of mock heroic effect.
G. Holden points out, "It is Pope's use of these machinery, moreover, which more than any other single feature made the poem the single success that it is." It is the supernatural machinery which enables him in various ways, to create the mock epic effect. All the epic poets like Homer, Virgil, Tasso and Milton made use of the machinery and it was in the fitness of things that Pope should also parody it in his mock epic. Cunningham says, "In the Sylphs we witness a delightful down-scaling of the epic machines."
Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,"
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