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satire

satire

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | Copyright

satire, from the Latin satira, a later form of satura, which means ‘medley’, being elliptical for lanx satura, ‘a full dish, a hotch-potch’. The word has no connection with ‘satyr’, as was formerly often supposed. A ‘satire’ is a poem, or in modern use sometimes a prose composition, in which prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule [OED]. In English literature, satire may be held to have begun with Chaucer, who was followed by many 15th-cent. writers, including Dunbar. Skelton used the octosyllabic metre, and a rough manner which was to be paralleled in later times by Butler in Hudibras, and by Swift. Elizabethan satirists include Gascoigne, Lodge, and Morston, whereas J. Hall claimed to be the first to introduce satires based on Juvenal to England. The great age of English satire began with Dryden, who perfected the epigrammatic and antithetical use of the heroic couplet for this purpose. He was followed by Pope, Swift, Gay, Prior, and other satirists of the Augustan period (see mock-biblical and mock-heroic). The same tradition was followed by Charles Churchill, and brilliantly revived by Byron in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. The Victorian age was not noted for pure satire, although the novel proved an excellent vehicle for social satire with Dickens, Thackeray, and others. In the early 20th cent. Belloc, Chesterton, and R. Campbell (in his Georgiad) contributed to a moderate revival of the tradition, pursued in various verse forms by P. Porter, J. Fuller, Clive James, and other young writers; and prose satire continues to flourish in the works of E. Waugh, A. Powell, Angus Wilson, K. Amis, and others. In theatre and television the ‘satire boom’ of the 1960s is generally held to have been pioneered by the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe (1960) by Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "satire." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "satire." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-satire.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "satire." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-satire.html

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Satire

Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary | 1986 | Copyright

574. Satire

  1. Arbuthnot, Mr . cliché expert who spoke exclusively in the clichés of each subject on which he was interviewed. [Am. Lit.: Frank Sullivan columns in The New Yorker ]
  2. Clouds, The attacks Socrates and his philosophy. [Gk. Drama: Haydn & Fuller, 144]
  3. Frogs, The lampoons the plays of Euripides and his advanced thinking. [Gk. Drama: Haydn & Fuller, 276]
  4. Joseph Andrews satirizes the sentimentality of contemporary fiction. [Br. Lit.: Fielding Joseph Andrews ]
  5. Knight of the Burning Pestle, The play by Beaumont and Fletcher burlesques the excesses of tales of chivalry. [Br. Drama: Haydn & Fuller, 399]
  6. M°A°S°H medical farce on the horrors of war. [Am. Cinema and TV: Halliwell, 474]
  7. Pogo comic strip rife with political satire. [Comics: Berger, 172]
  8. Praise of Folly, The uses tongue-in-cheek praise to satirize contemporary customs, institutions, and beliefs. [Dutch Philos.: Erasmus The Praise of Folly in Haydn & Fuller, 607]
  9. Scourge of Princes Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), wrote wicked satires on nobles and notables. [Ital. Lit.: Benét, 47]
  10. Teufelsdrockh, Herr fictitious professor, Carlyle’s mouthpiece for criticism of Victorian life. [Br. Lit.: Sartor Resartus ]
  11. Troilus and Cressida Homer’s heroes are reduced in character and satirized. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida ]
  12. Ubu Roi burlesques bourgeois values through outlandish political adventurism, including assassination, mock heroics, and buffoonery. [Fr. Drama: Alfred Jarry Ubu Roi in Benét, 1036]
  13. Zuleika Dobson burlesques sentimental novels of the Edwardian era. [Br. Lit.: Magill II, 1169]
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"Satire." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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satire

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

satire Literary work in which human foibles and institutions are mocked, ridiculed, and parodied. In Roman times, a satire was a poem in hexameters, a form established by the work of Lucilius, Horace, and Juvenal. In the Middle Ages, it often took the form of fabliaux or bestiaries, using animal characters to illustrate typical human failings. Since Thomas More's Utopia (1516), utopian or dystopian fiction, such as Zamyatin's We (1924) and Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), has frequently been used as a medium for satire. Dramatists have often employed the form, as in the plays of Aristophanes, Ben Jonson, Molière, Oscar Wilde, and Bertolt Brecht.
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satire

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

sat·ire / ˈsaˌtīr/ • n. the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. ∎  a play, novel, film, or other work that uses satire: a stinging satire on American politics. ∎  a genre of literature characterized by the use of satire. DERIVATIVES: sat·i·rist / ˈsatərist/ n.

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satire

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

satire poetical (or prose) work in which vices or follies are ridiculed. XVI. — (O)F. satire or L. satira, later form of satura (in earliest use) verse composition treating of a veriety of subjects, spec. application of the sense ‘medley’.
So satiric(al) XVI. — F. or late L. satirize XVII. — F. satiriser. Hence satirist XVI.
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T. F. HOAD. "satire." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "satire." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-satire.html

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satire

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

satire the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. The word comes (in the early 16th century) from French, or from Latin satira, later form of satura ‘poetic medley’.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "satire." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "satire." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-satire.html

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satire

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

satire •sapphire • backfire • campfire •shellfire • ceasefire • misfire • spitfire •speechifier •humidifier, solidifier •modifier • codifier • amplifier •vilifier •mollifier, qualifier •nullifier • magnifier • indemnifier •signifier • personifier • unifier •typifier • stupefier •clarifier, scarifier •terrifier, verifier •gentrifier • glorifier • purifier •classifier, pacifier •specifier • intensifier • crucifier •emulsifier • versifier •gratifier, ratifier •sanctifier • identifier • testifier •prettifier • quantifier • fortifier •beautifier • stultifier • justifier •liquefier • wildfire • watchfire •bonfire • crossfire • bushfire • gunfire •surefire • lammergeier • multiplier •outlier • Niemeyer • quagmire •vampire • empire • occupier • umpire •hairdryer • prophesier • satire •Blantyre • saltire • haywire • tripwire •retrochoir • underwire

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era.
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