(J) THE SATIRE ~ Literary Hunt

(J) The Satire

The Satire may occur in any form of literature whether it is prose, poetry or drama. In Prose, it is used in the form of an essay, an article, a short story or even a novel. In Poetry, it may take the form of a lyric, a song, a narrative or descriptive poem or a verse-tale while in Drama, it may occur in a one-Act play, or in parts of a full five-act play. Its primary function is to ridicule some folly or vice of a person or society with a view to correcting or reforming them The satires are known to have been originated in Greece. The plays of Greek dramatist, Aristophanes, are masterpieces of satirical literature. It's chief exponents in Latin literature were Horace, Juvenal, and Persius. The Greek and Latin authors set the models for Elizabethan and Augustan English satirists.

The Essentials of Good Satire

A good satire should be without malice or vengeance. It should be meant to ridicule, and not to abuse, though it may be bitter as direct. It is more playful than hurtful, though some poets and authors such as Dryden, Pope and, Swift, at times- become waspish, venomous and malignant.

Social Satires

Social satires are more popular than persona satires. It expresses the follies and vices of their age or contemporary institutions. Chaucer and Langland exposed the corruption and malpractices in the church, and greed and dishonesty prevalent in the trading class. The satires of Swift and Addison equally expose the follies of their Age. The greatest age of English satire, and probably of the world, is the century and a half that included Dryden, Samuel Butler, Wycherley, Addison, Pope, Swift, Fielding, Johnson, Goldsmith, and others.

English satire and probably of the world is the century and a half that included Dryden, Samuel Butler, Wycherley, Addison, Pope, Swift, Fielding, Johnson, Goldsmith, and others.

Major Satirists and Their Works

#	Satirist	Their Satirical Works
1	Geoffrey Chaucer	The Canterbury Tales; The parliament of Fouls
2	William Langland	Piers the Plowman
3	Ben Jonson	The Poetaster
4	John Donne	Death's Duell
5	John Dryden	Absalom and Achitophel
6	Alexander Pope	The Rape of the lock; On the use of Riches; An Essay on Man; Characters of Men; Characters of Women.
7	Matthew Prior	Solomon on the Vanity
8	Robert Blair	The Grave
9	Dr. Samuel Johnson	The Vanity of Human Wishes
10	Daniel Defoe	Robinson Crusoe; Moll Flander
11	Jonathan Swift	The Battle of the Books; A Tale of Tub; Gulliver's Travels
12	Joseph Addison	The spectators; Public Credit
13	Richard Steele	The Tatler; The Funeral
14	George Crabbe	The Village
15	Thomas Gray	Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
16	Robert Southey	Wat Tyler; A Vision of Judgement; Madoc
17	S.T Coleridge	Youth and Age
18	Lord Byron	English Bards and Scottish Reviewers
19	P.B Shelley	Adonais
20	Willaim Hazlitt	Table Talk on Men and Manners
21	Thomas Carlyle	Sartor Resartus
22	Charles Dickens	Pickwick Papers
23	Thomas Hardy	Life's Little Ironies
24	Robert Bridges	Humour of the Court
25	G.B Shaw	The Apple Cart; Mrs. Warren's Profession; John Bull's Other Island; Arms and the Man
26	John Galsworthy	The Silver Box
27	Rudyard Kipling	The Jungle Book
28	H.G Wells	The Time Machine
29	T.S Eliot	The Waste Land; Prufrock and other observation; The Hollow Man; The Cocka tail Party
30	George Orwell	The Animal Farm

OBJECTIVE TYPE OF QUESTIONS

1. The central theme of Dr. Samuel Johnson's satirical poem London is the same as that of:

(a) The Vanity of Human Wishes

(b) Irene

(d) The Rambler

2. Galsworthy's Süver Box is a satire on:

(a) The system of making laws

(b) The system of a legal trial

(d) The distinction between the rich and the poor

3. Shaw's Arms and the Man is a satire on :

(a) The blending of love and gallantry

(b) The false glorification of war

(d) The false concept of knighthood

4."The Rope of the Lock' satirises :

(a) The fashion of playing cards

(b) Contemporary aristocratic society

(d) The fashion of going to clubs

5.Chaucer's most pungent satire is directed on :

(a) The clergy

(b) The knights

(d) The immoral women

6.Swift wrote in one of his works : "A young healthy child, well nursed, is at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled."Where does he make this observation?

(a) Journal to Stella

(b) Gulliver's Travels

(d) The Drapier's Letters

7.Who is the author of the first great satirical poem. Piers the Plowman ?

(a) Chaucer

(b) Wyclif

(d) Langland

8.Samuel Butler's Hudibras is a satire on :

(a) Contemporary social life

(b) Puritanism

(d) Restoration of Kingsinip

9.George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart is

powerful satire on :

(a) The working of Democracy

(b) The working of Plutocracy

(d) The working of Dictatorship

10. A satire..a folly or vice of a person or society:

(a) Amuses

(b) Ridicules

(d) undermines

11. .......is not a satire :

(a) The waste land

(b) Divine Comedy

(d) Silver Box

12. Whom does Chaucer satirise in the following lines :

"For he hadde power of confessioun,

As seyde hymeself, moor than a curat,

For of his order he was licencia

Ful swetely herde he confessioun,

And plesaunt was his absolucioun."

(a) Pardoner

(b) Franklin

(d) Friar

13. Pope's Dunciad is a powerful and violent satire on:

(a) Some minor poets of his day

(b) Some persons whom be persohally disliked

(d) Some literary critics of his day

14. In a letter to Pope, Swift wrote; "I heartily hate and detest that animal called man." This is the central theme of one of his satirical novels. Which is it ?

(a) A Tale of the Tub

(b) The Battle of the Books

(d) None of these

15. "Here lies my wife, here let her rest !

Now she is at rest, and so am I !"

This was a proposed epitaph to be engraved. on the tomb of his wife. Who was the poet ?

(a) Ben Jonson

(b) John Dryden

(d) Pope

16. Identify the satire work :

(a) The prelude

(b) Saint Joan

(d) Mrs. Dalloway

(J) THE SATIRE

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