Ut pictura poesis

Plato, through his own thought process on credible knowledge, found painting and writing to be unreliable sources of understanding, disregarding the concept entirely.

[7] Ut pictura poesis surfaces in regards to Pope's "Rape of the Lock" through his in-depth descriptions of the characters and plot.

Rebecca Ferguson, in her essay "'Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those': objectification and seeing in Pope's 'Rape of the Lock'", draws attention to these details, specifically with Belinda's character.

Ferguson explains an aspect of how Pope was painting a character and a plot: "Pope's construction of Belinda seems to render her just such a 'frontier' between a constructive and a destructive chaos, between qualities which are 'neither inside nor outside', neither invested in her 'essential' self nor in her body," and The belle is identified in many ways with the display of vessels and treasures around her, both as a consumer and as a figure who takes on some of the properties of those riches, yet her attractions are in the end not so much displayed as set in motion; she 'rises in her charms', 'awakens' and 'calls forth' her wonders and graces, culminating in the dispersal of both her body and her allure in the reader's eye.

[8]There is an emphasis on the reader's eye and the imagery that contributed to audience members being able to so vividly 'watch' the plot of this poem unfold.