Satire, Epic & Mock Epic
Works of Swift & Pope
Satire
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Satire is a verbal or visual mode of
expression that uses ridicule to
diminish its subject in the eyes of its
audience.
• The authors are intent on making fun of the
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absurdity, pretension and degeneracy of the
respective worlds they are portraying.
Swift’s proposal makes fun of a society
that cares nothing for the poor by making
horrific suggestions.
Characteristics of an Epic #1

An epic is usually defined as a very long poem composed in a
lofty style that tells a story on a grand scale.
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Its protagonist, generally a noble hero of national
significance, undergoes many adventures that help
create a people or a nation.

Epics employ a vast setting, relating episodes of courage and
valor that cover the expanse of continents or sometimes the
entire universe.

Gods and demons often intervene in the action, either by
helping or hindering the hero.
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The poet, whether known or not, relates his tale in simple yet
elevated language which underscores the poem's serious
mood.
Characteristics of an epic #2

The poem begins in the middle of the action (critics use the
Latin term in medias res to describe this convention).
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The poet states his theme early in the poem.
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A muse is invoked to provide inspiration.
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Catalogs of warriors, ships, and enemies make up large
passages. These catalogs present different elements of the
culture in detail to create the effect that the epic is including the
whole world of its action in the poem.

Principal characters deliver long, formal speeches in a lofty,
non-colloquial style.
Epic – Past & Now
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Epic poems tend to get written when the
civilization they are celebrating is clearly
passing away or has disappeared completely.
Epics have been used to establish a current
civilization using the epic as basis for its past.
In recent times, epic narratives are usually in
prose (for example, War and Peace or Moby
Dick), and the epic novel has largely replaced
the traditional epic poem as the highest summit
of the creative writer's art.
Parody
 Parody
is a form of satire that
imitates another work of art in
order to ridicule it.
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When the conventions of a genre have become
defined, authors often lampoon these conventions,
making the reader laugh.
Pope’s Rape of the lock makes fun of the epic style by
making the story of how a girl lost a curl into a huge
production.
Mock Epic – not really epic
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Normally much shorter than true epics.
Satirize their subjects instead of extolling them.
Treat a trivial subject in a lofty fashion to make it
appear ridiculous.
Mock epic uses epic conventions, but instead of
describing battles and perilous voyages across deep
seas, authors depict card games and suitors vying
for advantageous positions in the drawing room.
Two examples are Pope's Rape of the Lock and
Byron's Don Juan.