Subtitled "An Heroi-Comical Poem", Pope's satire is based on a real event--the playful cutting of a lock of young woman's hair by an enamored swain--that caused a rift between two prominent families. Pope's attempt to smooth things over with humor was apparently successful: the feud ended, and the poem was a huge hit with the public. "The Rape of the Lock" parodies "The Iliad", "The Aeneid", and "Paradise Lost", and uses all the devices of the epic--gods, heroes, battles, even a journey to the Underworld--in an affectionate and supremely witty work of genius.