Comparison of Popes The rape of the Lock and Swifts A Modest Proposal

Although Alexander Pope's, The Rape of the Lock, and Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal are both witty satires, they differ on their style, intention, and mood. To begin, in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope uses satire to invoke a capricious, melancholy mood to illustrate the absurdity of fighting over the cutting of one's hair. Hidden inside this poem is a crafty criticism of the society that helps create the crisis over the stolen lock. A Society in which appearances ere more important to a person’s sense of identity, and treats the insignificant with utmost importance. The very title of this mock- epic gives the audience a clue, the word "rape" and all its implications bring to mind a heinous crime of violation. Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize this mock- epic â€Å"But when to mischief mortals bend their will, how soon they find it instruments of ill!† (3. 53-54). He also employs in many instances, historic allusions to give the poem a serious feel â€Å"Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla's fate! chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air, she dearl...