satire in eighteenth-century literature. "in satire, irony is militant." northrup frye

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Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature

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Page 1: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Satirein Eighteenth-Century Literature

Page 2: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

"In satire, irony is militant."

Northrup Frye

Page 3: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Definitions

Page 4: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Satire: from the Latin satura lanx, meaning "medley, dish of colourful fruits."

Page 5: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

"[A] literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling."

William Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman, eds., A Handbook to Literature.

New York: Odyssey Press, 1960. 436.

Page 6: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

“A literary mode based on criticism of people and society through ridicule. The satirist aims to reduce the practices attacked by laughing scornfully at them--and being witty enough to allow the reader to laugh, also.  Ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and several other techniques are almost always present. The satirist may insert serious statements of value or desired behavior, but most often he relies on an implicit moral code, understood by his audience and paid lip service by them. The satirist's goal is to point out the hypocrisy of his target in the hope that either the target or the audience will return to a real following of the code. ...

Page 7: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Thus, satire is inescapably moral even when no explicit values are promoted in the work, for the satirist works within the framework of a widely spread value system. Many of the techniques of satire are devices of comparison, to show the similarity or contrast between two things. A list of incongruous items, an oxymoron, metaphors, and so forth are examples.”

Robert Harris, Virtual Salt http://www.virtualsalt.com/satire.htm

Page 8: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

“Anything sharp or severe is called a Satyr.”

Cocker’s English Dictionary, 1704.

Page 9: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

History

Page 10: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

examples as far back as the second millennium BC but Satire is usually seen as a product of Greco-Roman culture.

two main types:

Page 11: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

named for Horace, Roman satirist

Tone: critical yet playful and relatively mild, often sympathetic

Tactics: wit, exaggeration, humour

Horatian

http://www.memo.fr/en/dossier.aspx?ID=212

Page 12: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Juvenalian

named for Juvenal, Roman satirist

Tone: darker, more pessimistic, sometimes without humour

Tactics: use of scorn, outrage, sharpness

http://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/book/images/People/Classical/index.htm

Page 13: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Satire in the Enlightenment

Page 14: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Famous practitioners

Page 15: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

John Dryden, 1631-1700

A Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satire (1693)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Dryden_portrait.jpg

Page 16: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

“How easie is it to call Rogue and Villain, and that wittily! But how hard to make a Man appear a Fool, a Blockhead, or a Knave, without using any of those opprobrious terms!”John Dryden, From 'A Discourse concerning the original and Progress of Satire' (1693)

Page 17: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Jonathan Swift, 1667–1745

A Tale of the Tub (pub. 1704), Gullivers’ Travels (1726), A Modest Proposal (1729), &c

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas_detail.jpg

Page 18: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Alexander Pope, 1688–1744

The Rape of the Lock (1712), The Dunciad (1728), &c.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_Dahl.jpg

Page 19: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

“Satirical print depicting "A--- P--E," for Alexander Pope, depicted as a pope, with papal tiara and atop a stack of Pope's works. The Latin says, "Know thyself," and the verse at the bottom is Pope's own satire on Thersites. From Pope Alexander, an anonymous lampoon written in response to Dunciad in 1729. The print was also sold separately.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pope-Alexander.png

Page 20: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Voltaire, 1694–1778

Francois-Marie Arouet

Candide (1759)

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/v/voltaire/

Page 21: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Graphic satireCommon topics: politics,

manners and mores, fashion

http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/2006/10/09/

Page 22: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

James Gillray (1757-1815)

Page 23: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

Anonymous etching from about 1775. Satire on coiffures

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/09/waiter-theres-hair-in-my-satire.html

Page 24: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

La Françoise à Londres. The French Lady in London,or the Head Dress for the Year 1771

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/09/waiter-theres-hair-in-my-satire.html

Page 25: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

"Les Invisibles en Tête-à-Tête", a French satire on the poke bonnet (called "invisible" in French), 1810s.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Invisibles-Tete-a-Tete-poke-bonnet-satire-1810s.jpg

Page 26: Satire in Eighteenth-Century Literature. "In satire, irony is militant." Northrup Frye

"The Matrons in Hanging-Sleeves, or The Enquirer into Nature", an eighteenth-century satire (or "satyr") against sex-education (1802?)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:18th-century-anti-sex-education.jpg