1. AP Language: Intro to Satire
I can identify and understand satirical texts when I encounter them.
I can distinguish the satirical argument and the REAL argument.
I can distinguish Juvenalian and Horatian satire.

2. Permission Slips – Idiocracy Intro to Satire Notes
Agenda
Bell Ringer
Permission Slips – Idiocracy
Intro to Satire Notes
Practice Identifying types of Satire and understanding the intended argument
Satirical Devices Notes
Practice with Mark Twain’s “War Prayer”

3. Permission Slips
At the end of this unit, we will be watching a film titled, Idiocracy (2006), which is rated R.
In order to ensure that everyone can watch the film, you need to have your parents read and sign the permission slip.
If your parents do not give permission to watch the film, you will have an alternate assignment.
These are due next week! 

4. Bell Ringer
Try to define satire without looking up the definition.
Think of an example of a satire.

5. Intro to Satire
Satire: the use of humor/comedic elements to ridicule or expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of politics and other topical issues. Satire as argument: Satire is a complicated genre because, in general, there are two different arguments made: the SATIRICAL argument and the INTENDED argument.

6. Intro to Satire
Satirical Argument: The argument that is the EXPLICIT argument of the satirical text; the argument on the surface.
It is often the OPPOSITE of the real/intended argument.
This is the argument that is being RIDICULED.
Intended Argument: The argument that the author is really wanting to make.
This is the argument that is CRITICAL of the satirical argument.
This is often IMPLICIT—not directly stated.

7. Intro to Satire
Why is it important to study and recognize satire?

8. Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire
Satirical pieces fall on a scale in terms of bitterness.
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Horatian Satire
Juvenalian
Satire

9. Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire
Horatian Satire: Satire in which the voice is indulgent, tolerant, amused, and witty.
The speaker holds up to gentle ridicule the absurdities and follies of human beings, aiming at producing in the reader not anger but a wry smile.
Ex:

10. Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire
Juvenalian Satire: addresses social evil through scorn, outrage, and savage ridicule.
This form is often pessimistic, characterized by irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal insult, with less emphasis on humor.

11. Horatian vs. Juvenalian?
Distinguish between the satirical and intended arguments
Women Quitting Jobs
Let's Save Africa
Teenage Affluenza
A Message from Sweden
Gospel of Obama

12. Extra Practice: Horatian vs. Juvenalian?
Distinguish between the satirical and intended arguments
Millennials of New York
YOLO
The Weather for Southern Viewers
It's Your Fault

13. Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire
Discuss:
In which rhetorical situation(s) would you use Horatian satire and in which would you use Juvenalian satire?

14. Important Note: Parody vs. Satire
Parody examples are often confused as examples of satire. Although parody can be used to develop satire, it differs from satire to a certain extent.
Parody mimics a subject directly to produce a comical effect.
Satire, on the other hand, makes fun of a subject without a direct imitation. Moreover, satire aims at correcting shortcomings in society by criticizing them.
Parody is a kind of comedy that imitates and mocks individuals or a piece of work. However, when it mingles with satire, it makes satire more pointed and effective.
Adele – Hello Parodies

15. Over the next two classes, we will be taking notes on:
Satirical Devices

16. Puns Irony Invective Oxymoron Hyperbole Euphemisms Litotes
Satirical and Comedic Devices The satirist uses a wide variety of devices to achieve a satiric goal. Some of these are very subtle, and others are quite blunt. But all of them, in the end, are methods of distortion.
Puns
Invective
Oxymoron
Euphemisms
Double Entendre
Fallacy
Caricature
Irony
Situational Irony
Verbal Irony
Hyperbole
Litotes
Understatement
Paradox
Today, you will write down the definitions and examples for the first column.

17. Irony: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; a situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
All satire is ironic, but not all irony is satire. Irony is the tension that results when you expect one thing and get more than, or less than, or the opposite of what you expected.
Verbal irony
Situational irony
Dramatic irony
(this form of irony would not be used to create satire, and therefore is not studied in this unit)

18. Verbal (Rhetorical) Irony: The intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express.
Example: The father looks at his sons report card. “You got 6 F’s and 2 D’s. How wonderful! You really overdid yourself this semester.”
Literary Example: (Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar)
MARK ANTONY: But Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man.
In this quote from Julius Caesar, Mark Antony is seemingly praising Brutus after the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, this example of irony is one of verbal irony, since Mark Antony is in fact implying that Brutus is neither ambitious nor honorable.
Sarcasm: An exaggerated form of verbal irony; bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. The term came from the Greek word “sarkazein” which means “to tear flesh.”

19. Situational Irony: Actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what is expected. Simplified definition: The outcome of an action is different from what we expect.
Simple Example: The fire station is on fire!
Literary Example: “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
In this short story, a young, poor couple struggle with what to buy each other for Christmas. The woman cuts her hair and sells it to buy a watchband for her husband. Meanwhile, the husband sells his watch face to buy combs for his wife’s hair. This is an example of situational irony, since the outcome is the opposite of what both parties expect.

20. Hyperbole: Exaggeration or overstatement often used for emphasis.
Example: “It’s a thousand degrees in here!”
Literary Example: (From W.H Auden’s poem “As I Walked One Evening”)
“I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry” 
The use of hyperbole can be noticed in the above lines. The meeting of China and Africa, the jumping of the river over the mountain, singing of salmon in the street, and the ocean being folded and hung up to be dried are exaggerations not possible in real life.

21. Litotes: a figure of speech in which a negative statement is used to affirm a positive sentiment. 
Literary Example: (The Iliad by Homer, as translated by Ian Johnston)
“Once he’s led you to Achilles’ hut,
that man will not kill you—he’ll restrain
all other men. For he’s not stupid,
blind, or disrespectful of the gods.
He’ll spare a suppliant, treat him kindly.”
This litotes example comes from the Classical Greek text of The Iliad, written by Homer. Here Iris, a messenger from Zeus, is describing Achilles’ qualities to King Priam of Troy, and says, “he’s not stupid, blind, or disrespectful of the gods.” (This line is also sometimes translated as, “he is neither unthinking, nor unseeing”). Iris wants to emphasize that Achilles will not injure Priam, which she does so by listing off negative qualities that Achilles does not possess.

22. Important Note: Litotes vs. Understatement
Understatement is any expression that minimizes the importance of something.
Understatement and litotes both invoke a certain restraint or stoicism when describing something.
Literary Example: from The Great Gatsby
“I’ve got a nice place here,” he said, his eyes flashing about restlessly.
Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore.
Litotes is a form of ironic understatement.
However, the definition of litotes is much more specific than that of understatement.
Litotes only refers to the negation of one quality to emphasize its opposite. If a person is “not unimaginative,” this negation of the negative quality “unimaginative” implies that the person is, in fact, imaginative.

23. Practice Identify Litotes in a text:
“I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.”
(A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift)
Jonathan Swift’s famous essay A Modest Proposal is a piece of satire in which he puts forth the idea of eating the children of Ireland to combat both the problems of hunger and of overpopulation. Knowing that the public will react with horror to this proposal, Swift preempts it with the litotes, “I hope will not be liable to the least objection.” Of course, there would be huge objections to the proposal, and Swift ironically downplays the significance of what he’s about to say.

24. Paradox: A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.
Some types of paradox are meant to communicate a tone of irony to its readers as well as lead their thoughts to the immediate subject. Paradox normally strives to create feelings of intrigue and interest in readers’ minds to make them think deeper and harder to enjoy the real message of the text.
Examples:
Your enemy’s friend is your enemy.
Wise fool.
Truth is honey which is bitter.
“What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw
Literary Examples: Hamlet, Hamlet: “I must be cruel to be kind.
Macbeth, The Witches: “Fair is foul and foul is fair”

25. Identify Paradox in the text below:
JULIET:
My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathèd enemy.
Shakespeare used many examples of paradox in his plays and poems, and this is just one such example. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is based on a paradox. Juliet expresses it in this quote, that her “only love sprung from [her] only hate.” It is unexpected that love should spring from hate to the extent that it seems impossible. However, the story of Romeo and Juliet shows the deeper truth of love and hate—they are not so irreconcilable after all.

26. As a class, read “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain.
Satire Practice
As a class, read “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain.
Identify the major SUBJECT(S) of the satirical piece.
Explain how you know it’s a satire.
Give textual evidence
Identify the satirical vs. the actual argument.
Classify the piece as Horatian or Juvenalian satire and explain your choice.