1. SATIRE: An Introduction

2. Desire for reform or change
Irony
SATIRE
Desire for reform or change
Criticism

3. Components of Satire Irony Criticism Desire to see reform or change
All elements can exist separately, but when joined together, the result is satire.

4. Ironic Component to Satire
All humor has its foundation in irony. Therefore, satire will be ironic.
However… not all irony is humorous.
Neither is all satire!
Some of the most effective or memorable satires have been painfully serious.

5. Types of Satire Horatian Juvenalian
Satires that are light and humorous
Named after Roman author Horace
Juvenalian
Satires that are dark, bitter, and often disturbing
Named after Roman author Juvenal

6. Subgenres of Satire Parody – humorous imitation of serious subject
Caricature – humorously exaggerates a particular quality, feature, or characteristic of a person or a group
Burlesque – treats a trifling subject in a serious manner
* These terms may overlap! It is more important to recognize that an author is being satirical than to distinguish parody from burlesque

7. Satirical Characters, part one – pessimists
Pessimists: dissatisfied people who take a gloomy view and expect bad things to happen
Misanthropes: pessimists who despise the human race
Cynics: pessimists who distrust the sincerity and motives of other people

8. Satirical characters, part two – optimists
Optimists: cheerful people who generally take a hopeful view of things and expect good results
Philanthropist: one who loves the human race and works toward its betterment
Pollyanna: named for an eternally happy little girl from literature; example would be Little Orphan Annie (“The sun will come out tomorrow”)

9. Method used by Satirists
Wit: quick perception, especially of the incongruous, and verbal skill
Sarcasm: irony, used intentionally to insult and wound
Repartee: ability to answer quickly and pointedly, often with wit or sarcasm
Often employ allusion, understatement, hyperbole, and other forms of irony
The ability to recognize these techniques distinguishes the reader who “gets it” from the one who does not.

10. Killing the “Sacred Cows”
Although satire runs the risk of offending the audience, this does not deter serious satirists.
They believe unless the audience feels uncomfortable about the topic, they cannot achieve the goal of motivating the audience to some sort of improvement.
Because there is no topic off limits to a satirist, political and religious subjects are often found.

11. Timeliness and Topicality
Satire tends to be timely and topical…
What would be the point of a humorous criticism of some remote historical or social problem?
Satire is aimed at those who know something, and the uninformed audience will rarely, if ever, appreciate the achievement of the satirist.

12. Present-day Connections
Do you know of any famous satirists or their works?
Can you think of examples of modern satires (TV, movies, readings)?
What topics would you use if you were writing a satire?

13. How does satire relate to language and literature?
Language is a means of communication.
Writers either say what they mean (literal)
Or say something other than what they mean (figurative)
Literal language needs no special interpretation beyond comprehension.

14. Figurative Language
Unlike literal language, figurative language requires interpretation.
Comparative uses of figurative language include metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, synecdoche, metonymy, etc.
Some figurative language is not comparative but ironic. In this case we must examine what the author said and deduce what the author meant.

15. Three types of irony
Verbal irony – results from the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
Dramatic irony – results from the discrepancy between what the reader knows is true and what a character believes is true
Situational irony – results from the discrepancy between what one expects will or should happen and what actually does happen

16. Sarcasm
Many rhetorical terms exist in rhetoric to distinguish between types of verbal irony. The most common term is sarcasm.
When a writer is being sarcastic, he is saying something other than what he means, but also with the special intent of causing pain.
Sarcasm comes from the Greek and means “to tear the flesh”

17. Emotional effect of irony
Important to note that irony usually has an emotional effect on the reader rather than an intellectual one.
Instead of causing us to think about what is being said, irony triggers an almost automatic emotional response, usually either laughter or tears.

18. Wit Wit refers to quickness of mind and sharp verbal skill.
It incorporates the ability to comprehend, especially to note the incongruous, and to express oneself succinctly and accurately on a topic.
It is different from intelligence and knowledge, suggesting an intellectual brilliance and delight in its ability to entertain.

19. Famous wits Winston Churchill George Bernard Shaw Mark Twain
Oscar Wilde
Moliere
Alexander Pope

20. Maxims
Maxims are short remarks, usually no longer than a sentence, that offer a bit of wisdom.
Many famous maxims illustrate a cynical view of human behavior.
Not necessarily examples of quick wit, but do offer keen insight.
Not always funny, but usually make us nod our heads in agreement.

21. Examples of Maxims
To refuse praise means that you want to be praised twice.
There are those who would never have been in love, had they never heard about love.
We are so accustomed to disguising ourselves from others, that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves.
Ridicule hurts our honor more than does dishonor itself.
We admit our small failings in order to persuade other that we have no greater ones.
We easily forgive our friends those faults that personally do not touch us.

22. Epigram
An epigram is a short, comic remark, usually containing some surprise at the end (the surprise containing the humor).
Perfected by the Roman writer Martial in the first century.
Most of Martial’s epigrams were written to insult people.
In the original Latin, most of Martial’s epigrams were usually composed as elegaic couplets including puns

23. Examples of epigrams Swans sing before they die – ‘twere no bad thing
Should certain people die before they sing!
Coleridge “On a volunteer singer”
God bless our good and gracious king,
Whose promise none relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
John Wilmot “Impromptu on Charles II”

24. Parody Parody is the humorous imitation of a subject.
It provides satirists with one of the principal means of achieving the satirists goals – to illustrate and suggest correction of society’s flaws.
The imitation can be either subject matter or style, but to be a parody the writing needs the element of humor.
Colloquial synonyms for parody include spoof, take-off, and send-up.

25. Parody of a famous poem Upon Julia’s Clothes By Robert Herrick
Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows
The liquefaction of her clothes.
Next, when I cast my eyes, and see
That brave vibration, each way free,
O how that glittering taketh me!
Whenas in Jeans
By Paul Dehn
Whenas in jeans my Julia crams
Her vasty hips and mammoth hams
And zips-up all her diaphragms,
Then, then, methinks, how quaintly shows
(Vermilion-painted, like the rose)
The laquefaction of her toes.

26. Caricature
Caricature, popular in satire and in visual art, is a portrait characterized by a particularly exaggerated feature.
Often found in political cartoons, where artists highlight and distort one feature, a hairstyle, or another physical attribute, and the cartoon viewer is expected to recognize the subject through that one exaggerated feature.
Caricature is hard to see in short excerpts because a good novelist treats characters consistently, and so in prose, unlike in cartoons, the effect is usually cumulative rather than immediate.
A satirical writer will often sacrifice a realistic, balanced view of a character in favor of an exaggerated caricature in order to achieve the satire’s desired effect.

27. Burlesque
When we feel that a writer is not taking a subject seriously enough, or the converse, that the writer is mocking the subject by giving it more serious treatment than it deserves, we are usually observing a satirical technique called burlesque.
Found in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” or in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.