An imitation of a literary style, or of human action, that aims to ridicule by incongruity of style and subject. High burlesque involves a high style for a low subject (Pope's The Rape of the Lock); low burlesque involves a low style with a high subject, as in much political satire.
Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.
51 words
Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Burlesque". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=151, accessed 09 June 2026.]

