Dryden's Macflecknoe as a Mock Heroic Poem.

A mock- heroic poem uses the formal elements which characterize the epic genre to depict a trivial situation. It thus creates a contrast between the form and content that results in a satiric and absurd effect, ridiculing the characters in the plot and their actions.

                        In the form and style, MacFlecknoe is a kind of mock-epic or mock-heroic poem. The very opening of MacFlecknoe is characterized by epic inflation which has a comic effect. Flecknoe who is known to be a worthless poet is compared to Augustus Caesar.  The mock-heroic vein is continued throughout the poem in the portrayal of Shadwell as MacFlecknoe. The note of ironic politeness is continued also, being inseparable from the mock-epic device. MacFlecknoe is regarded by his father as the suitable person to succeed to the throne of dullness because he looks majestic with his huge bulk, like the huge oak trees and is at the same time devoid of the power to think like them. We find another touch of mock-heroic and ironic picture when MacFlecknoe is compared to Arion, a musician whose music attracted the dolphins, but MackFlecknoe attracted only “little fishes”.  The name Shadwell was sounded from several localities, but the localities named by Dryden were sordid and inhabited by uncultured people. MacFlecknoe is then ironically called “prince of thy harmonious band”. His muscic excited the jealousy of the famous musician, John Singleton, who renounced the triumph he had won. We find another example of the same style and technique in the description of the place which has been chosen as the site of MacFlecknoe’s coronation. The ceremony of the coronation is described with the use of inflated language which ill-accords with triviality of the theme and gives rise to laughter because of this incompatibility. At the same time no abusive words are used and the tone is ironic politeness. Flecknoe is called “the hoary prince” who appeared in majesty, high on a throne. Thus herein also blooms the epic style. But what is most interesting that here also we find mockery scene. The throne is one which Flecknoe had built with his own efforts and consisted of a pile of books written by him. At his right hand sat Ascanius, Rome’s hope and pillar of the state.

                        Moreover, we find another mockery picture when Shadwell takes oath that he would maintain genuine dullness in his kingdom throughout his life and would never establish any link with wisdom or intelligence. Then in a mock-epic style, Dryden tells us that Shadwell held, in one hand, not the globe but a large mug of strong beer and in the other hand, not a scepter but a worthless book written by Flecknoe. Again, twelve vultures had appeared to augur Remulus’s victory over Remus. Now twelve aged owls appeared over Shadwell to promise an empire of dullness for Shadwell to rule over.

                        Flecknoe’s coronation speech is again couched in language which befits an epic but which conveys mockery when applied to Shadwell:

Heavens bless my son ! from Ireland let him reign

To far Barbadoes on the western main.

The speech begins in the right epic style but then we come to the lines in which Shadwell is ridiculed. Flecknoe calls upon his son to keep progressing  in the field of ignorance and thus exhorts him:

Success let others teach, learn thou from me.                                                                                                                            Pangs without birth, fruitless industry.

The mockery continues till the end. Shadwell’s tragic scenes ,says Flecknoe, are amusing rather than pathetic; and his comic scenes are so dull.

Indeed, Dryden conceived Mac Flecknoe as a satire against his contemporary playwright Thomas Shadwell. The title itself points to the absurd dimension of the poem by making Shadwell the son of (Mac) Richard Flecknoe, another writer whom Dryden despised. Flecknoe is described as a king, which recalls the status of epic heroes, but his kingdom is Nonsense, a name that mocks his supposedly heroic status. He abdicates in favor of the most obtuse of his children, Shadwell, who, just because of his intellectual weakness, is the siutable heir to the throne. The scene of the coronation, usually a noble topic, is significantly set in a dilapidated environment, thus deflating its nobility.

To conclude, the mechanism of the mock-heroic genre consists in praising the characters for their triviality and vulgarity. Thus, Dryden never directly attacks Shadwell, rather he obtains his result of belittling him by exalting his ignorance and bad writing.