The Rape of the Lock is one of the most
famous English-language examples of the mock-epic. Published in its
first version in
1712,
when
Alexander Pope was only
23 years
old, the poem served to forge his reputation as a poet and remains
his most frequently studied work.
Aubrey Beardsley completed the ten
Rape of the Lock drawings and a cover design
for the first edition in just a few months despite his increasingly
poor health. During his short and brilliant career he became notorious
for his illustrations in two ‘decadent’ periodicals of the period,
The Yellow Book and
The Savoy. Beardsley's illustrations in these two periodicals will be shown in later posts.
Frontispiece: The Morning Dream
Twas he has summon'd to her silent Bed
The Morning Dream that hover'd o'er her Head.
A Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-Night Beau. . .
Headpiece for the first canto: ‘The Billet-Doux’
‘The Toilet’ – Belinda at her dressing table.
The Baron's Prayer
The Barge
‘The Rape of the Lock’; on the left side of the
picture you see the baron snipping off a lock of Belinda’s hair with a pair of scissors.
The Advent'rous Baron the bright locks admir'd;
He saw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspired.
The Cave of Spleen
A constant vapour o'er the Place flies;
Strange Phantoms rising as the Mists arise.
‘The Battle of the Beaux and Belles’ – Belinda confronts the Baron.
The New Star
Design for Front Cover
Aubrey Beardsley, Self-Portrait
