Explain the quotation: A heavenly image in the glass appears, To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; The inferior priestess, at her alter's side Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride.

Explain the quotation:

A heavenly image in the glass appears, 

To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;

The inferior priestess, at her alter's side

Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride.

Answer: These lines have been derived from the famous mock-heroic "The Rape of the Lock” which is an important contribution to Alexander Pope's picture of the eighteenth-century life of high society. These lines are selected out of the 1st canto of the poem. Here Belinda is satirically called and compared to a goddess when. she is making up and dressing.

Belinda, the dominating character in "The Rape of the Lock” is the representative of the aristocratic society of eighteenth-century London life. She is a beautiful and fashionable lady. She is very fond of various cosmetics. Now she is in her pompous toilet along with her maid, Betty. Belinda stands in front of the looking-glass. She sees her own lovely reflection in the mirror before her. She Towers her eyes in order to see the lower portion of her body. Then she raises her eyes to see the upper portion. In other words, she contemplates her own reflection in the looking glass. The poet says that Belinda's appearance in the mirror is nothing but the appearance of a goddess of heavenly image. Here image in it is the goddess herself.

In fact, there is a satire on the fashionable ladies of the day who wasted most of their time, energy, and wealth on decorating themselves and Pope has exposed this through Belinda.