d forty-nine when he states that “...rites unpaid? / No friend’s complaint, no kind domestic tear...” He seems to be stating that society abandoned her as much as her family did and that no one seems to even care that this young woman is gone. He once again has drawn a line saying, “you are the enemy and I am the ally.” Now that the sides have been chosen the battle can be looked at much more closely.The image of a battle takes up much more of this poem than any other section. Not only is the suicide a battle within the woman as to whether or not to commit it, but the language lends itself to shape yet another battle of morality. Pope brings in the language of battle a great deal on page 115 of the poem. He speaks of “justice”, “vengeance”, and the “besiege”ing of “your gates ” (in which case he is speaking to the family and society). These are images that are common with battle rather than suicide. He also brings up the fact that “foreign hands” are what took care of the young woman’s body once she died. This also seems to illuminate the image of death on a battlefield. Pope captures this picture beautifully in lines fifty-two to fifty-four, when he writes:By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos’d,By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos’d,By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn’d,By strangers honour’d, and by strangers mourn’d!This passage is the essence of how men died in battle in those days and during the civil war. They were not buried by their family and friends, but rather buried in mass graves or where they lie, if buried at all. They were mourned and honored by strangers rather than their loved ones. Pope also brings up the fact that she has no tombstone marking her grave; “Nor polish’d marble emulate they face.” That is another common factor with the victims of war. T...
