1. Satire

2. Satire
Derived from the Latin satura, which means “full” or “a dish of mixed fruits”
A text or performance that uses irony, derision, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or stupidity.
Verb: satirize. Adjective: satiric or satirical.

3. "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it." (Jonathan Swift, preface to The Battle of the Books, 1704)

4. Two Types of Satire
Horatian satire is:  tolerant, witty, wise and self-effacing
“Tells the truth pleasantly so that he will not turn people away but rather cure them of that ignorance”
Evil is a disease that can be cured and those who cannot be cured are offered as an example of folly
Purpose: correct man’s problems

5. Juvenalian satire is: angry, caustic, resentful, personal, misanthropic
“Believes that wickedness and evil will triumph in the world”
Life is not comic but contemptible.
Purpose: punish man for his transgressions

6. Characteristics of Satire
Topical
Claims to be realistic, even if hyperbolic
Shocking
Informal in tone and manner
Funny

7. Satiric Devices

8. Humor
exaggeration: the formalized walk of Charlie Chaplin, the facial and body contortions of Jim Carrey
understatement: Fielding’s description of a grossly fat and repulsively ugly Mrs. Slipslop: “She was not remarkably handsome.”
incongruity
deflation: the English professor mispronounces a word, the President slips and bangs his head leaving the helicopter, etc.
linguistic games: malapropisms, weird rhymes, etc.
surprise: twist endings, unexpected events

9. Irony
Literary device in which there is an incongruity or discordance between what one says or does, and what one means or what is generally understood.

10. Mock Encomium
praise which is only apparent and which suggests blame instead

11. Grotesque
creating a tension between laughter and horror or revulsion; the essence of all “sick humor: or “black humor”

12. Invective
name calling, personal abuse, etc

13. Comic Juxtaposition
linking together with no commentary items which normally do not go together; Pope’s line in Rape of the Lock: “Puffs, patches, bibles, and billet-doux”

14. Mock Epic/Mock Heroic
using elevated diction and devices from the epic or the heroic to deal with low or trivial subjects

15. Parody
mimicking the style and/or techniques of something or someone else

16. Inflation
taking a real-life situation and blowing it out of proportion to make it ridiculous and showcase its faults

17. Diminution
taking a real-life situation and reducing it to make it ridiculous and showcase its faults

18. Three Main Forms
Monologue: satirist is speaking as himself or from behind an assumed mask or persona, addresses the audience directly, states his view of the problem, provides examples, criticizes opponents, and tries to make his views ours (similar to a traditional argument)
Example: “A Modest Proposal”

19. Parody: the satirist takes an existing work of literature which was created with a serious purpose or literary form and makes the work look ridiculous, filling it with incongruous ideas or exaggerating its features
Example: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a parody of travel journals of the 18th century.

20. Narratives: the satirist does not assume a narrative voice as he does in the monologue; they may be stories or dramatic fiction.
Example: Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels; Voltaire’s Candide

23. “A Modest Proposal”
By Jonathan Swift

24. Persona How does Swift want the reader to view the speaker?
What features best describe the “persona” he adopts?

25. Diction
Note Swift’s diction in the opening paragraphs. Identify examples of quantification and dehumanization. Explain their purpose.

26. Strategy
Swift’s speaker explains the anticipated results before revealing the actual proposal.
Explain the rhetorical purpose of such a strategy.

27. Assumptions
What are some assumptions underlying paragraph 7?

28. Appeals
For each of the classic appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) indicate two examples from the first eight paragraphs. Which one is the speaker’s primary appeal?

29. Qualifiers
Read paragraph 9 carefully. Explain the purpose and effect of the qualifiers there.

30. Diction
Taking careful note of the diction of paragraph 12, with words such as “dear” and “devoured,” explain the rhetorical strategy at work.

31. Appeals
..\Rhetoric\Logos.doc

32. Motivational appeals
Indicate Swift’s motivational appeals, specifically to thrift, economy, and patriotism. Explain the rhetorical strategy behind such appeals.

33. Rhetorical Strategy
Consider the additional proposal mentioned in paragraph 17. Explain the rhetorical strategy at work in that paragraph.

34. Counterargument
Identify a counterargument that the speaker anticipates in paragraph 19.

35. Rhetorical strategy
Explain what Swift suggests as “expedients” in paragraphs and explain the rhetorical strategy at work.

36. Break from ironic voice
The very end of paragraphs may be seen as breaks from Swift’s ironic voice. Explain how that may be the case, and identify one other place where Swift breaks through that of his persona.