Friday, January 30, 2004

ASSIGNMENT: Compose a modern English prose paraphrase of ONE (1) of the following passages from The Rape of the Lock:

1. Canto 3, lines 135-46;
2. Canto 4, lines 40-54;
2. Canto 4, lines 104-116;
3. Canto 4, lines 160-76.

For example, a paraphrase of the following lines might read thus:

There Affectation with a sickly mien
Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen,
Practiced to lisp, and hang the head aside,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride;

There [in the Cave of Spleen], Affectation's sickly (i.e. menstruating) demeanor reflects a blushing girl of eighteen who has learned how to speak with an affected, cutesy little voice; and pout and look demur; who pretends to faint at the drop of a hat; and who suffers neglect because she won't deign to "embrace mankind," so to speak.