The Rape of The Lock: Lines 365-376 - Summary & Analysis

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Lines: 365-376. The Baron now.....O'erwhelms them all

      Summary: These lines deal with the second phase of the game of Ombre. The Baron had a sweeping victory over Belinda. The King and Queen of Diamond staged a combined sweep and the cards of Belinda lay in utter confusion. There were Clubs, Diamonds and Hearts—all lying scattered and in a wild disorder. Just as Asians or African Negroes, when they are beaten in battle stretch in the battlefield in a state of huge chaos and confusion, similarly the multi-colored cards of Belinda lay scattered and confused on the velvet surface of the table on which the game of the cards being played. The cards with different colors look like troops of an army dressed in different colors. The entire battalion of the beaten army was routed out and they fell into the hands of the enemy. They were all overtaken by the same fate.

      Critical Analysis: The poet very skilfully parodies the trifle and the significant. He compares the game of Ombre to a live battle. The cards of Belinda are stretched all over the table in huge confusion. They throng the table in heaps and present the spectacular scene of a routed army which either takes to its heels or else falls into the hands of the enemies. The comparison yields a significant satirical value. The mock-epic design has been used with advantages to lash out at the sophistication of the so-called elite class of lords and ladies who took even a game of cards a seriously as one takes a real battle. The profound and the trivial are skilfully blended to point unmistakably to the mockery of the situation.

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