A Heavenly Image in the Glass Appears by Alexander Pope.

Exercise number 2
Belinda, the heroine of the story, is introduced in the first 6 lines. Answer the following questions.

• a. Where is she sitting? Belinda is sitting on the toilet.
• b. What is she wearing? She is dressed in white.
• c. What is laid in front of her? In front of her lay many silver vases
• d. What is reflected in the mirror? In the mirror is reflected a "heavenly image" (Belinda's image).
• e. What is Belinda's reaction as she sees herself? When she sees herself in the mirror she bends and rears.

Exercise number 3
The heroin of the poem emerges as: a divine creature

Exercise number 4
The toilet begins with the help of Betty, Belinda's maid. List the objects on the dressing table (lines 7-18).

The objects on the dressing table are: unnumbered treasures, glittering spoil, the casket India's glowing gems, Arabia breathes, combs the speckled and the white, pins, puffs, powders, patches, Bibles and billet-doux.

Exercise number 5
Gradually Belinda's charms increase, list the results of the elaborate process of making herself up (lines 19-24).

The results of the elaborate process are: she rises in her charms, she repairs her smiles, awakes every grace, a purer blush arise and brighter lightnings shine in her eyes.

Exercise number 6
Why is Betty praised for something she hasn't done?

In the last line the author says "and Betty's praised for labours not her own" because he pulls her legs. As a matter of fact, she set the girl's head, she divided her hair, she fold the sleeve and plaited the gown. At the end of the work the girl is so nice that it seems that some Sylphs made all the work and the maid did nothing.

Exercise number 7
Find the religious references in the opening seven lines and complete the sentences.

• a. The "toilet" has become an altar
• b. The phials on the dressing table are laid in mystic order
• c. The toilet is attended by a sacred rite
• d. Belinda's white robe carries suggestions of an angel
• e. Before the image of the glass, Belinda first bows as if in adoration
• f. Then she raises her eyes to it as if in prayer
• g. The image in the mirror is called heavenly image

Exercise number 8
The sacred rites of pride show us Belinda as if she were the centre of the universe: can you identify phrases that support this point? What is the stylistic device of exaggeration called?

The stylistic device of exaggeration is irony and the phrases that support the point that Belinda is the centre of universe are: trembling begins the sacred rites(line 8), the various offerings of the world appear(line 10), this casket India's glowing gems(line 13), all Arabia breathes(line 14) and the busy Sylphs surrounded...the gown(lines 25-27)

Exercise number 9
Underline all the words or phrases that remind you of epic literature(lines 11-24)

Decks the Goddess with the glittering spoil(line 12), this casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box, (lines 13-14).

Exercise number 10
The metrical structure used by Pope is called the heroic couplet: a pair of rhyming lines in iambic pentameter.

• a. Find the rhyme scheme of the first eight lines
  The rhyme scheme of the first eight lines is: AABCDDEE
• b. Read the first eight lines and mark the stresses.
  Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
  First robed in white, the nymph intent adores.
  With head uncovered the cosmetic powers.
  A heavenly image in the glass appears;
  to that she bends, to that her eyes she rears.
  The inferior priestess, at her altar's side.
  Trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride.

Exercise number 11
Pope perfected the closed couplet, that is a couplet in which the two lines form a complete sentence. Find a few examples in the opening lines.

1) First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores, with head uncovered, the cosmetic powers.
2) The inferior priestess, at her altar's side, trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride.

Exercise number 12
The heroine is at the centre of a universe where different worlds are interwoven. Find the lines that:

• a. say that the world's space is ridiculously limited because continents only support vanity;
  "This casket India's...and the white" (lines 11-16)
• b. refer to the heroic world. Like a brave heroine, she is ready to meet the adoring world thanks to her protection, which is not armour. What is it?
  Her Pride. "Trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride" (line 8).
• c. Refer to the world of supernatural, where the spirits help Belinda to grow lovelier;
  "The busy Sylphs surround...the gown"(lines 25-27).
• d. Compare the vain act of making up to sacred rites.
  "And now, unveiled, the...of Pride" (lines 1-8.

Exercise number 13
Belinda is vain, empty woman, who puts together trifles and values. Can you find an example of this confusion of values in line 18?

Belinda puts together trifles and values, as a matter of fact, in line 18 the author says "Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux". We can see that the Bible, a religious book, is written near words like puffs and powders.

Exercise number 14
Here is what the critic Pat Rogers says in his essay Pope and the Social Scene:

"The Rape of the Lock illustrates that Pope responds intensely to the feminine world. Here the martial hero has been replaced with the vain coquette Belinda; the stern landscape of Homer has been turned into a pretty-pretty boudoir atmosphere."

Do you agree? If so, support your point referring back to the poem.

Personally I agree with Pat Rogers, as a matter of fact, Pope uses irony to describe the "sacred rites of Pride" with the exaggeration of tone. In this poem a normal girl, seems a heroine who is preparing herself for a new mission (even the Sylphs help her to get ready!).
But the only mission of this girl is to go out in society and make everyone look at her beauty. When a hero is preparing himself for the battle usually landscape is described very superficially. In the Rape of Lock landscape is described like a boudoir where everything is tidy "the toilet stand displayed, each silver vase in mystic order laid".

Exercise number 15
Pope is a satirist and in The Rape of The Lock he ridicules the fashionable world of his time. Go back to the text and consider the religious parallels; the discrepancy between the description and the action; Bibles among face-powder and love letters.
Pope's presentation is intended to criticize human folly and vanity; does he really succeed? Write your comment.

I think that Pope succeeds in his intentions. He uses irony, and this means that he is talking about something he doesn't like. In the first 8 lines he compares an ordinary thing (preparing to go out) with a sacred rite. Obviously the reader understands that he is criticizing the society of his time that thinks that something sacred can be mixed with something ordinary.("puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux").