The Rape of the Lock. A mock-heroic poem. Canto I • Paragraph 57
Stage 1 of 6

Read it through once

But in the midst of his unfruitful prayer, Having solicited th’ eternal power That his foul thoughts might compass his fair fair, And they would stand auspicious to the hour, Even there he starts. Quoth he, “I must deflower. The powers to whom I pray abhor this fact, How can they then assist me in the act?