As the name indicates, the Mock-Epic is a literary form that ridicules the "classical epics." It does so by using characteristics of the classical epic; the invocation of a deity, a regular statement of theme, the division of the work into books and cantos, ostentatious speeches, battles and supernatural machinery; to reveal the absurdity of a certain subject. ... These sylphs represent Meddling Gods and Goddesses that exist in most epic poems; Pope diminishes the idea of these characters by choosing to make them appear as small, and almost insignificant creature. ... Canto IV continues to mak...

• Word Count: 1581
• Approx Pages: 6

Virgil condones war for the sake of his patron, Augustus Caesar, whose recent victory at Actium, three years before the creation of Virgil's epic, had quelled the rebellion of the Roman commander Marcus Antonius. ... " Aeneas cannot be portrayed as fully condoning war as warmongering is the chief characteristic of Turnus. ... But, in one of a few areas of the poem that lacks consistency (Virgil never lived to fully complete his epic), Juno declares that she wishes to "quit these battles which I so detest.... However, strength in war is a defining characteristic for Virgil's...

• Word Count: 2231
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate