Jonathan Swift

1
Jonathan Swift

• satire is a glass wherein beholders generally
  discover everybody's face but their own, which is
  the chief reason ... that so very few are
  offended with it

2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
Genre vs Mode

• Genre a type or category of art/text defined by
  structural (or formal) and thematic criteria
  (e.g., epic, novel, essay, short story)
• Mode a broader category which is thematically
  specific but non-specific as to literary form of
  representation.

5
Northrop Frye

• Satire is a tone or attitude in which two things
  are essential
• One is wit or humour, the other, an object of
  attack.
• If the attack or denunciation is weak, satire
  veers closer to comedy, if too strong it becomes
  aligned with tragedy.

6
Comedy vs Satire

• Comedy involves a milder attack on its subjects
  it is less invested in serious criticism and more
  prone to eliciting laughter for laughters sake.
• Satire involves an attack upon targets that are
  considered immoral or destructive.

7
Quintillian (1st Century AD)

• satura tota nostra est (satire is totally
  ours
• He refers to a specific form of verse written by
  the Roman satirists, Lucilius, Horace, Persius,
  and Juvenal

8
Diomedes Etymology of Satire

• Either satire is derived from
• 1) satyroi or satyri because it is a poem that is
  as unruly as the Greek Satyr plays
• 2) the Latin singular of satus, meaning full,
  which relates to lanx satura, a platter full with
  a variety of fruits to be offered to the gods
• 3) the legal satury (one bill encompassing
  multiple provisions)

9
Diomedes Definition of Satire

• a verse composition amongst the Romans. At
  present certainly it is defamatory and composed
  to carp at human vices in the manner of the Old
  (Greek) Comedy this type of satire was written
  by Lucilius, Horace, and Persius