What defines the specific genre variant known as the 'Mock-Epic' (or mock-heroic)?

Correct answer: A poem applying the grand, elevated style of classical epic to a trivial or mundane subject

A mock-epic uses the structural ornaments of the epic form—such as invocations, epic similes, catalogs, and divine machinery—to describe minor, everyday events, thereby satirizing its contemporary society. Masterpieces of this genre include Alexander Pope's *The Rape of the Lock* (where a stolen lock of hair is treated like the abduction of Helen of Troy) and John Dryden's *Mac Flecknoe*. The humor arises from the massive gap between the grand style and the triviality of the event.