Satire, Epic & Mock Epic

							Satire, Epic & Mock Epic



    Works of Swift & Pope
Satire

   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
        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.

   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.

   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).

   The poet states his theme early in the poem.

   A muse is invoked to provide inspiration.

   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
   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.
 •   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

   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.