The Rape of the Lock

Blurb

The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations in May 1712 in two cantos, but then revised, expanded and reissued in an edition "Written by Mr. Pope" on 4 March 1714, a 5-canto version accompanied by six engravings. Pope boasted that the poem sold more than three thousand copies in its first four days. The final form of the poem was available in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humour.