mock-epic
Pompous about nothing
A mock-epic applies the grand conventions of epic poetry—elevated language, heroic invocations, elaborate similes, divine intervention—to trivial or mundane subjects for comic effect.
The contrast between lofty style and lowly content creates satire or parody.
Alexander Pope's *The Rape of the Lock*, which treats the snipping of a lady's hair with the gravity of the Trojan War, is the genre's most celebrated example.
The term functions as both noun and adjective: a mock-epic about suburban lawn disputes.
Exaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- parodySatirical imitation
- travestyAbsurd, degrading imitation
- satireMockery exposing vice
- PopeCatholic Church's supreme leader
bathos · inflated · grandiloquent · bombastic · high style · invocation · catalogue · couplet
Lack of harmony
- deflationSustained decrease in prices
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
hyperbole · apostrophe · heroic couplet · absurdity · exaggeration · pomposity · anticlimax · literary device
burlesque
Exaggerated mockery or risqué variety
Pope · bathos · inflated · grandiloquent · bombastic · high style · invocation · catalogue · couplet · Augustan
incongruity
Lack of harmony
- deflationSustained decrease in prices
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
overstatement · hyperbole · apostrophe · heroic couplet · absurdity · exaggeration · pomposity · anticlimax · literary device · comedic effect
card game
Pastime using a deck
- drawing roomFormal reception space
- vanityExcessive pride in oneself
- cosmeticsSkin-applied beauty substances
toilette · lap dog · tea party · coquette · beau · snuff box · bodkin · sylph · trifle · gossip
- Mock-EpicThe Rape of the Lock, heroic couplet, bathos, anticlimax, deflation
- epic poetryIliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Paradise Lost, Beowulf
mock-epicepic
Impressively grand in scope
sublime · heroic · grandiose · solemn · reverential
mock-epicepic
Impressively grand in scope
heroic epic · tragedy · national epic · panegyric · encomium
mock-epicearnest
Sincerely intense in purpose
sincere · unironic · straight-faced · reverent · celebratory