“What mighty contests rise from trivial things,”
- Source
- The Rape of the Lock
- Date
- 1714
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Poetic speaker · Mock-heroic narrator
What does this quote mean?
The mock-heroic opening announces the poem’s central comic method: treating a small social quarrel with the scale and language of epic conflict.
Where does it come from?
The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, expanded five-canto version; the line is part of Pope’s mock-heroic invocation and should be read as satire.
Who voices the line?
Poetic speaker · Mock-heroic narrator. The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, expanded five-canto version; the line is part of Pope’s mock-heroic invocation and should be read as satire. v4.93 stores the local voice separately from the bibliographic work author.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.