As the name indicates, the Mock-Epic is a literary form that burlesques the ‘classical epics’ by using characteristics of the epic -- the invocation of a deity, a formal statement of theme, the division of the work into books and cantos, grandiose speeches, battles and supernatural machinery- to reveal the ridiculousness of a certain subject. The main effect of employing techniques of an epic is, however, not so much to have fun with the epic, …showed first 75 words of 1768 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1768 total…the drama but also the rest of humanity, including Pope himself and certainly his readers are somehow ridiculous and funny -- and tragic -- too. Thus, Pope has successfully taken the audience from epic poetry in form, to mock epic in reality. Pope has built on the epic form, presenting the audience with a satire of the rituals of courtship and sex, highlighting Belinda's wounded pride with the meaningless lives of the English upper class.