"The Rape of the Lock" stands as the most exquisite example of ludicrous poetry
"The Rape of the Lock" was first published in 1712 and later expanded in 1714. The occasion for this elegant comic piece was the forceful cutting by Lord Petre of a lock of hair from Lady Arabella Fermor's head. This trivial event caused dissension between their two aristocratic families. Alexander Pope composed the poem on the suggestion o John Caryll, a common friend of the families to compromise them. Pope intended his verse to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own folly. "The Rape of the Lock" stands as the most exquisite example in the English Language of ludicrous poetry or mock epic. The poem has a large number of epic features and is divided into five cantos. A mock-epic poem is a parody of the serious and comic style of classical epics. In such a poem, a common or trivial subject is treated in a sublime and lofty manner, but its foremost purpose is to ridicule both the subject and theme and to poke fun at human follies. Th...