A Certain Lady At Court by Alexander Pope
Here, Pope praises a woman who seems to be perfect. She is well-liked by all, but he says her only imperfection is that she is deaf. To take this literally would be to assume that is actually deaf, and that all of the praise heaped upon her is something she cannot even hear. To take it figuratively would be to assume that she either ignores or does not believe the praise, and that it falls upon deaf ears. Either way, it is incredibly sad, as she is one of two things: a wonderful lady who cannot hear how wonderful everybody thinks she is, or a wonderful lady who cannot hear how wonderful everybody thinks she is. They are one in the same, as somebody who cannot accept such praise is just as disabled in this case as the one who is deaf to such praise.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your next write ups thanks once again.
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www.imarksweb.org
I don't believe you're correct. When Pope says this uncommon and reasonable woman doesn't hear the praise given her; he means she remains humble and goes quietly about her ways. The praise does not turn her head and feed any sort of vanity. That's why she's reasonable.
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