Juvenalian And Horatian Satire :: Satire Comedy LIterary Essays

Juvenalian and Horatian SatireSatire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybodys plaque but their own which is the chief reason for that kind of reception itmeets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. Jonathan blue-belly(1667-1745), Anglo-Irish satirist. The Battle of the Books, premiss (written1697 published 1704).Satire is known as the literary style which makes light of a subject,diminishing its importance by placing it in an amusing or disdainful light. Unlikecomedy, satire attempts to create humor by deriding its topic, as opposed to atopic that evokes laughter in itself. Satires attempt to give us a more humorouslook at attitudes, advances, states of affairs, and in some cases ( as inJonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal ) the entire human race. The least criminal offenceform of satire is Horatian satire, the style used by Addison and Steele in theiressays. A much more abrasive style is Juvenalian satire, as used by JonathanSwift i n the aforementioned essay A Modest Proposal. To better understand satireas a whole, and Horatian and Juvenalian satire in particular, these essays canprovide for yet comprehension than a simple definition of the style alone.Horatian satire is noted for its more pleasant and amusing nature.Unlike Juvenalian satire, it serves to make us laugh at human folly as opposedto holding our failures up for needling. In Steeles essay The Spectators Club,a pub gathering is used to point out the quirks of the fictive Sir Robert deCoverly and his friends. Roger de Coverly is an absolute character. His failurein an amorous pursuit have left him in the past, which is shown through hismanner of dress, along with his somewhat dubious honor of evaluator of the quorum.This position entails such trying duties as explaining Acts to the commoners.Also present is a lawyer who is more versed in Aristotle and Cognius than inLittleton and Coke(Norton, 2193), indicative of lawyers more interested insounding learned than being capable of practicing actual law. Near him, a richesy merchant whose concerns lie mainly in the wealth of England and himself,and who views the ocean as his marketplace. Captain Sentry is an old militaryman well practiced in the art of false modesty, a trait he detests in others.Also there is a clergyman who is so frail that he would sooner wait until theLord sees fit to smite him than get on with the business of leading hislife.(Norton, 2192-2195). All of these characters present traits present in all