Such moments as these, however, are rare in the poem as a
whole for Pope views the objects of his satire with genial
good humour and detached amusement. He has himself
followed the advice of Clarissa and maintained good sense in
the face of absurdity. The gallant tribute to Belinda’s beauty
as she sails down the Thames at the opening of the second
canto and the famous dressing-table scene at the close of the
first convey an image of beauty incompatible with sharp
satirical intent. As he decks the goddess with the glittering
spoil, the artist is half in love with the image of his own
creation and, although we are only too conscious of the pride
and vanity of Belinda’s self-regard, nature is indeed dressed to
advantage and new wonders truly called forth. To appreciate
this, we need only compare Pope’s later description of Sappho
‘at her greasy task’ in the ‘Epistle to a Lady’ (l. 25) or
examine one of the sources of his description in Dryden’s
translation of part of Juvenal’s sixth satire on the subject of
women:
She duly, once a month, renews her face;
Meantime, it lies in daub, and hid in grease:
Those are the husband’s nights; she craves her due,
He takes fat kisses, and is stuck in glue.
But, to the loved adulterer when she steers,
Fresh from the bath, in brightness she appears:
For him the rich Arabia sweats her gum,
And precious oil from distant Indies come,
How haggardly soe’er she looks at home
The eclipse then vanishes; and all her face
Is opened, and restored to every grace.
(ll. 593–603)A further contrast is provided by Swift in ‘The lady’s dressing
room’ (1730):
Now listen while he next produces
The various combs for various uses,
Filled up with dirt so closely fixt
No brush could force a way betwixt...
Here gallypots and vials placed,
Some filled with washes, some with paste,