Books like The Rape of the Lock

"At ev'ry Word a Reputation dies" "The Battle of the Beaux and Belles" by Aubrey BeardsleyOne of the wittiest poems ever written, and one of my very favorites from my college English literature studies. "The Rape* of the Lock" (first published in 1712) makes good-natured fun of a real-life situation: a 21 year old Baron, Lord Robert Petre, rudely snipped off of a lock of hair from Arabella Fermor, a lovely young lady of his acquaintance, without her consent. Arabella was incensed (the situation wasn't helped when Lord Petre went and married someone else the next year), and the fall-out was causing a feud between their two prominent families. Alexander Pope's friend John Caryll suggest that Pope write a humorous poem about the event, in the hope that it would help everyone involved to lighten up. I'm not sure he succeeded there, but this poem did make a lot of other people extremely happy.What dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, I sing -- This Verse to Caryll, Muse! is due...Pope wrote a mock epic version of the story, with Arabella (or Belle) renamed as Belinda. Say what strange Motive, Goddess! could compelA well-bred Lord to assault a gentle Belle?Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplored,Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?The poem follows the elaborate epic literary traditions of classics like The Iliad and Paradise Lost, but subverts them: it has supernatural beings (Bella's rather ineffective fairies), the arming of the heroine for war (with clothing, jewelry, etc.), a descent into the underworld, and an epic battle (of the sexes) where the heroine slays men with her eyes. The juxtaposition between grand ideas and trivial concerns is delightful:Whether the Nymph shall break Diana's Law, Or some frail China Jar receive a Flaw, Or stain her Honour, or her new Brocade, Forget her Pray'rs, or miss a Masquerade, Or lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball...This poem is a bit on the long side for modern readers, and some parts are more interesting and amusing than others, but it's worth taking the time to savor it and delve into its humor and subtler meanings.*"Rape," by the way, didn't have quite the meaning in the 1700s that it does now. I remember my English professor talking about this, and Shmoop agrees: Words are a lot like snowballs in that respect: as they roll through history, they gather layers and layers of meanings. In the 18th century, in Pope's day, "rape" also meant to carry away or take something from someone by force... "Rape" did have a sexual connotation, but in no way as strongly as it does now. By using it in the title as the verb to describe what happens to Belinda's hair, Pope is playing on both layers of meaning: seizing something by force and personal violation.Reportedly Arabella Fermor was quite charmed with this poem until she realized (or, more likely, it was pointed out to her by friends) that there are some rather risqué double entendres in the poem. Oops.