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March 2004 31 POETIC IDENTITY AND THE ANXIETY OF PRINT IN POPE’S EARLY CAREER A December 8, 1998, headline from the on-line Times (Lon don) caught my eye: “Poet is pardoned over cave theft after 250 years.” Yes, itwas Alexander Pope. The story reads in part: “Leg end says that the 18th century writer of The Rape of the Lock em ployed musketeers to shoot stalagtites from the roof of the great cavern at Wookey Hole to adorn the grotto at his villa in Twickenham. Now detective work by the British Cave Research Association has cleared him of blame.”1 Apparently, the real culprit was Charles Bruce, Fourth Earl of Elgin, whose descen dant later followed his lead by removing the Greek marbles. Pope either bought or was given the stalagtites from Bruce. A couple of this story’s features are significant. Why would Pope want stalagtites? Personal vanity is one reason: Pope’s “grotto,” actually more of a tunnel that led from under his house to a rustic temple in his garden, was his unique showpiece, at once a retreat and a museum. Its careful adornment represents the poet’s self-fashioning. Not only a bitter satirist, he is also exotic, interesting. But
English Language Notes – Duke University Press
Published: Mar 1, 2004
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