What Is Parody | Definition & Examples

Parody is a form of literature that is commonly used in satire. It normally involves imitating other works of literature to either mock or flatter. Here is a formal definition of parody: 

A parody is a creative work of art designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock other works of art, typically with satirical intent. 

Now, this doesn’t mean that all parodies are satires. Some parodies may simply apply the styles of high works of literature to works that are more “humble” in their settings or ambitions. 

For example, Ulyssess (published in 1922), a modernist novel by James Joyce is a parody of Homer’s Odyssey. The Odyssey tells the epic tale of the Greek Hero, Odysseus, traveling for 10 years after the Trojan War to get back to his island home of Ithaca. 

Ulysses contrasts this with one day in the life of three Dubliners over the course of a single day — June 16, 1904. Another example is Derek Walcott’s Omeros, which is also based on Homer’s Iliad, but which replaces the Greek heroes of Hector and Achilles with a fisherman and bus driver from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. In this article, we discuss the various types of parody, including Goerge Orwell's Animal Farm (publsihed in 1945)

Book cover for the first edition of Animal Farm,

Parody and high art

Parodies typically involve imitating and mocking high art, especially from the Greek epic tradition. Sometimes that imitation is done in sincerity, that is, the creative writer wishes to take advantage of the merits of the work that they are imitating. 

However, most of the time it is based on sarcasm. A good example of this would be Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock (published in 1725). This is an epic poem that makes fun of a trivial event between two aristocratic families. 

It was based on an anecdote told to Alexander Pope by a friend named John Caryll. The incident goes as follows. Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre were members of two aristocratic families, and Lorde Petre was formally the suitor of Arabella. Petre cut off a lock of Arabella's hair without her permission. This led to an argument that created disagreement between the two families. 

Pope used this as an opportunity to satirize the pettiness and foibles of the aristocratic class of England. He compared the trivial incident to epic poetry from Greek classics, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. Here is a extract from the poem:

What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,

What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:

This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:

Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,

If she inspire, and he approve my lays.

Here, the poet is appealing to the Greek muse Caryl. This is after the fashion of Homer in the Iliad. Epic poets of the Greek tradition would typically “pray” to the muses of poetry to make sure they tell the poem or song well. Here is an example of this from Homer’s Iliad: 

Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,

Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.

Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--

The Greek warlord--and godlike Achilles.

Homer makes reference to the Goddess to help the tale of the Iliad, beginning with the disagreement between Agamemnon and Achilles, which made Achilles withdraw from battle with his troops and allow the Greeks to suffer grievous losses against the Trojans. 

Now, not all parodies are as formal as the “high” style employed by Alexander Pope in this poem. Parodies can be more informal and simply reference Greek classics. In this case, it would be less a parody than a classical allusion.

A good example of this would be D. H. Lawrence’s “Baby Tortoise” (published in 1921): 

You know what it is to be born alone,

Baby tortoise!

The first day to heave your feet little by little from

   the shell,

Not yet awake,

And remain lapsed on earth, 

Not quite alive.

A tiny, fragile, half-animate bean.

. . .

To take your first solitary bite

And move on your slow, solitary hunt.

Your bright, dark little eye, 

Your eye of a dark disturbed night,

Under its slow lid, tiny baby tortoise,

. . .  like a baby working its limbs, 

Except that you make slow, ageless progress

And a baby makes none.

The touch of sun excites you,

And the long ages, and the lingering chill

Make you pause to yawn,

Opening your impervious mouth,

. . .

Challenger,

Little Ulysses, fore-runner,

No bigger than my thumb-nail,

Buon viaggio.

Lawrence here is comparing the fragility and weakness of baby turtles and its brave instinct or drive to make it homeward to the sea to an epic journey. In the process, he refers to the turtle as a “Little Ulysses,” the Greek name for Odysseus. 

This is a parody being used as a literary device, as it compares something as everyday and natural as a baby tortoise walking towards the sea as the famous and epic journey of Odysseus. 

Also, this type of slight parody has no intent to mock or satirize. Instead, Lawrence is praising the bravery of the tiny baby turtle to take on the challenge of making it in the vast, dangerous, and impersonal world. 

Examples of parody in literature

1. Dryden, "Flecknoe"

"Mac Flecknoe" was published in 1682 by Alexander Pope:

This aged prince now flourishing in peace,

And blest with issue of a large increase,

Worn out with business, did at length debate

To settle the succession of the State:

And pond'ring which of all his sons was fit

To reign, and wage immortal war with wit;

Shadwell alone my perfect image bears,

Mature in dullness from his tender years.

Shadwell alone, of all my sons, is he

Who stands confirm'd in full stupidity.

What is going on here? The poem was inspired by a disagreement between Dryden and his friend Shadwell. They had a disagreement as to what constitutes good literature. Dryden responded by portraying Shadwell as the inheritor of the legacy of a notoriously bad poet by the name of Mac Flecknoe.

Dryden sets up Flecknoe as the king of doggerel or bad poetry and the ancestor Shadwell. Shadwell is described sarcastically as the fitting heir because of his inferior taste in literature, with lines such as fit / To reign, and wage immortal war with wit.” 

The parody of the poem centers around the fact that the analogy is that of coronation, which is usually a stately and grand event. However, here the monarch has won the crown of stupidity and bad taste in poetry. So, it’s a compliment with a sarcastic barb in it.

2. Orwell, Animal Farm

Orwell’s Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it is a parody of the communist totalitarian government established by Stalin in Russia. The Animal Farm can be described as a combination of satire and allegory.

It takes the form of a beast fable and tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, Mr. Jones, hoping to create a freer and more equal society. 

The revolution is inspired by a pig named Old Major. Major dies, but inspired by Old Major's vision of animal equality, the animals establish their own rules under the leadership of two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon. However, as time passes, Napoleon seizes power, exiles Snowball, and begins to rule like a dictator. 

The pigs more and more begin to resemble the oppressive humans they replaced, altering laws to justify their actions. The slogan after the revolution begins as “All animals are equal.” This later changes to the famous line, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." 

The fable was meant as a parody of what happened in the Soviet Union after the 1917 Revolution, with leaders promising more freedom and equality, only to create a new oppressive class that had more privileges and power over the masses who they originally encouraged to revolt. 

3. Yeats, "No Second Troy"

Yeats' "No Second Troy" (published in 1916) is not a classical parody per se. This means that it does not directly imitate a famous work of art. Instead, it simultaneously lampoons and praises the recklessness and beauty, respectively, of a specific individual, namely, Maud Gonne.

In the poem, Yeats compares Maud Gonne, who refused to give in to his courtly pursuits and instead chose another man, John MacBride for her husband, to Helen of Troy, who features so heavily in Homer's epic poem Iliad.

Here is the poem in full:

Why should I blame her that she filled my days

With misery, or that she would of late

Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,

Or hurled the little streets upon the great,

Had they but courage equal to desire?

What could have made her peaceful with a mind

That nobleness made simple as a fire,

With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind

That is not natural in an age like this,

Being high and solitary and most stern?

Why, what could she have done, being what she is?

Was there another Troy for her to burn?

Why does Yeat compares Maud Gonne to Helen of Troy? Helen of Troy was known as teh most beautiful woman in the ancient Greek world. She was "abducted" by the Trojan prince, Paris, from her Greek husband Menelaus. This led to the 10-year Trojan War. She is otherwise known as "the face that launched a thousand ships."

The comparison is a barbed compliment. Helen, after all, was not really abducted. She left voluntarily with Paris, abandoning her husband and starting a ruinous war. Yeats here is implicitly comparing himself to Menelaus, the noble and rightful king of Sparta, who had every right to Helen.

Paris is typically portrayed as a prince who was ill-bred (he was raised by a shepherd as opposed to growing up in the royal court) and who was cowardly and had unimpressive fighting prowess. Likewise, Yeats who belonged to the Anglo-Protestant elite of Ireland saw himself as above the station of John MacBride and therefore a much more fitting match for Maud Gonne.

This is why he describes Maud as having "hurled the little streets upon the great." Presumably, he is the great street, and John MacBride is the little. In short, it's a mean, petty, and bitter poem that is superbly written, relying on the most refined classical references. It's a good example of an artist parodying classical allusions and literature in service of his petty personal feelings.

4. Hartley Coleridge, "He Lived amidst th' Untrodden Ways"

Hartley Coleridge's poem "He LIved amidst th' Untrodden Ways" (published in 1827) is a mockery of Wordworth's poetic style. In particular, Coleridge makes use of language from Wordsworth's famous poem about Lucy entitled "She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways."

Here is the parody by Coleridge:

He lived amidst th' untrodden ways

To Rydal Lake that lead;

A bard whom there were none to praise,

And very few to read.

Behind a cloud his mystic sense,

Deep hidden, who can spy?

Bright as the night when not a star

Is shining in the sky.

Unread his works--his "Milk White Doe'

With dust is dark and dim;

It's still in Longman's shop, and oh!

The difference to him!

In the original poem, Wordsworth praises Lucy, portrayed as a mystical child of nature who dies prematurely. Where Wordsworth describes Lucy as dwelling "among the untrodden ways / Beside the springs of Dove," Coleridge describes Wordsworth as living "amidst th' untrodden ways / To Rydal Lake that lead." The awkward inversion of "To Rydal Lake that leads" makes the line absurd and hilarious to read.

The poem is making fun of the way in which Wordsworth's poetry focuses on a mystical communion between him and the genius of solitary nature. Coleridge also makes fun of the fact that Wordsworth at that point in time was not very popular and was often lampooned by critics and popular literary magazines as a bad poet.

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Parody in film

Parody can also take the form of films. For example, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) was a parody of the many Medieval Epic Tales relating to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail can be irreverent and hilarious However, here, there is some serious modern political commentary going on. The elderly gentleman is not dead yet but is being disposed of anyway.The collector of the dead even kills him to qualify him for being cast away.

This can be interpreted as a critique of modern social policy, where the elites in charge of government are willing to neglect and dispose of the vulnerable instead of paying for their “upkeep” as they are seen as useless and not contributing to society.

This commentary is further sharpened by a reference to the king, who is recognized as a king as “he doesn't have shit all over him.” This shows how parody can function to make us laugh while delivering pointing commentary. 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, May 19). What Is Parody | Definition & Examples.

EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-parody