Epic Vs Mock Epic

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Epic versus Mock Epic It is a lofty aspiration to try, within the confines of this paper, to compare Milton’s Paradise Lost to Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock. However by looking at Milton’s epic the reader can better appreciate the context and style of The Rape of the Lock. The themes of both literary works are so varied because one is a Horatian satire and the other is a serious religious meditative work. Paradise Lost contemplates the great theological questions and the folly of war. The Rape of the Locke is a more personal writing but still seeks to show the folly of mankind. Pope’s Horatian satire is meant to lightly poke fun at wasteful and superfluous lifestyle of his acquaintance. His purpose is not meant to rile anyone to anger but to show them how foolish their behavior is. They are meant to laugh, learn a lesson, and change. Pope’s use of the mock epic style allows him to poke fun at his main characters at every turn. In a typical epic, there is a dignified theme, an evoking of the muses, heroic characters, supernatural powers, and the heroic couplet, all of which are seen is Paradise Lost. Milton begins Paradise Lost with the traditional invocation and statement of purpose. He says “Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top Of OREB, or of SINAI” instead of invoking a mythological muse so he can preserve the Christian nature of the epic. Milton also states that, above all else, he wishes to “assert th' Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men” (Milton 6-26) Pope, on the other hand, uses these conventions of the epic in a comical way. The Rape of the Lock starts off with a beautifully worded invoking of the muse. He turns from the traditional epic however and leaves the muse nameless and dedicates the poem to its commissioner, John Caryll. Pope uses the mock epic for his satirical purposes at every turn. In the first canto he

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