How did Alessandro Tassoni use mock-heroic poetry in The Rape of the Bucket?

Alessandro Tassoni utilized the mock-heroic style in his poem The Rape of the Bucket to satirize the grand traditions of epic poetry by applying them to a trivial subject.1

The work is based on a 14th-century conflict between the Italian cities of Bologna and Modena, centered on the capture of a humble wooden bucket from a town well. Tassoni employs the mock-heroic form by treating this minor incident with the gravity and elevated language typically reserved for legendary heroic deeds.12

The poem’s humor arises from this stark contrast between style and substance: while the narrative begins with the serious tone of a traditional epic, every episode inevitably descends into hilarious absurdity. For instance, the Bolognese are depicted as offering entire towns and groups of hostages in desperate attempts to recover their stolen bucket, effectively ridiculing the heroic character and actions of the participants. By doing so, Tassoni created what is widely considered the earliest and finest example of the mock-heroic genre in Italian literature.12