THE ANATO},{Y OF
SATIRE BY GILBERT HIGHET
PR'NCETON, NEW JERSEY PRINCEl'ON UNIVERSI Y
PRtrSS
CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTI...
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THE ANATO},{Y OF
SATIRE BY GILBERT HIGHET
PR'NCETON, NEW JERSEY PRINCEl'ON UNIVERSI Y
PRtrSS
CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION satire is not the greatest form of literature but one ot the most energetic and memorable 3
E ramples of satire:
or tranc
Monologue: Juvenal Parody: Pope on the Dark Age Narrative: Voltaire on optimism These are the thrce main pattems of satire
3 13 3
b 8
r3-r1
How to aletermine wheiher a work is satire or 14'23
The author names his genus The author quotes a satiric pedigree Thc rurlror Lhoo(Fs J rladitionall) ,rriri. subjecr
The author quotes an €arlier satirist The theme h concrete, personal, topical The vocabulary is forcibie and the texture varied Typical satiric devices ar€ used The satiric emotion i, pr€sent
r5 r6 r6 r6 r6 r8 r8
II. DIATRIBE
24-66
r. TJI E SATIRIST'S IfONOLOCUE The beginnings oI satire in Rome: Lucilius and Horace
2+52
The satiri. \pi'ir in CrFe,e: Old Comedy Bion of Borysthenes Philosophical c ticism Personal abuse Social satire
2b 25
3o 35 37 38
qONTENTS
ltoN7tN7S
Satirc as the monologue of rhe satirjstl Rome: Lucilius, HoIace, Pcrsius,
Juvenal, Claudian Greece: Lucian, Jul;an the Aposlate Dark Age and MidcUe Age Itenaissance and Baroque N{odern tim€s: Byron, Hugo, Campbclt,
44 47 48
5r-66
Sxtire as the monologue of the victim: EIasmus, Browning
5r
Satire as an ironic monolomei
55
Swifts xlod.st p, o p'o'o I
5i 6r
Satirc
as a
prearranged diatogue
6?
lnhovert :rnd extravert monologucs
III.
PARODY
Titi^t
Laocoon Musical parodies
4\
and contemporaries
V
The Battl€ ol Frogs and. Mice Byront r/irion ol ludgnent
39
rf
a
Wordsworth and
haek TtugedJ
73
'i5
t6 Q_ueet1
71
self -parody
78
ro5
Swift, De Calliires, r'ielding
ro8 r09 r09
Joyce's Urysrer
109
Scauo\'s
^
Y er
gil T ra,
estie
d
Voltaire's Maid. of Orleans
rr3 Petronius's ,tdirira Rabelais and Ariosto
Cet\t^ntes' Don Quixote
BluLlet's Hudibras
2. PARODY 80
parodies:
,o5,47
Tassoti's RaFe ol the Bucket
69
to the United. Nations
Form and maner inrerpenetrare in mosr good
99
Dryden's Absalom and. Achitophel and. Mac Ilecknae Pope's Rafe ol the Lock and Dunciad
P' ayer
Atraham a Sancta Clara Laboucheres God Saft the
98
Hya(inthe MaRlrnovitcb
Lucilius and Juvenal Battles of rnim'ls Boile ns Le.tcrn
69
Pegl€r: n4)' Da) Stand.ard Speech
94
6b
possible !o distingnish formal parod), from matcrial parodv:
Hol) Ilillie's
92 93 97
"n?Pa& 4, TYPES OF LITNR^RY PARODY Mock"heroic and burlesque Pamdies oI difierent literary forms:
61-147
FlotNman's aragnel,i
92 ro3
Romaint
it is
Bums's
9o
Rabelais' propheci€s , .Swift and Parrridee
"
83
89
3, THE HOAX -A. S SATTRE Montgomery's double The Captain of Kitpenick The "Dreadnought" hoax
I. PARODY AND MIMICRY 6i'8o Parody di[ers lrom distortion and imiradoD bv ns intenLion ard its eilecr 67 Sometimes
s
8o
9, Arhtophanes
The phryahes Fielding s Tom Thumb the Great
r14 1r5
Ir6 r19
CON?EN?S OUT OF TT,IIS WORLD
CONTEN?S Shelte y's
O
e
diqus Ty r annus
Beerbohm s " Sannarola" Broun Shakespeare\ Ttoilus and Cressida G^y's Beggafs OPetu cilbert and Sullivan "Mym Buttle" 's Suddrlidd
Swift's Gullhrer's
r2.N
de Hauteville Jern "Butler's
Man ol Many
1,5
Sonows
VerSil
'_,.swift The Anti-Jacobin Rejected Addre'"es Calverley and Swinburnc Wilson's Omd,el of A. MacLeish : Pla.o's Mene'Nenus L.ttef ol Obscure Men The MeniqPean Satire Knox's Ersdrs tn Satire tryrbt'g ,l
d
dress
162
r6r
'32 r32
Sene.n s
r33 r33 r3+ r35
1. SATIRE AND TRUTIiI Narrative is the third main folrl ol sarire The neighbors of satire: Invective and tamPoon "FIYting" Comedy and farce The shapes oi satidcal narrative
' rii
.
Punrkinihatton of claudius
Quevedot ,!'lo]taile's
r65 161 168
ririoflr
r69
Mi.ronegas
'36 156
Orw ell's N ine teen Ei ghtY'F our
Iltxley's APe an.l, E worltl Il[\ley's Braw Neu 'cnce
'38 r4o r42
Mayakolsky's .Brd6rg
r,t5 r46 r47
11-4
r14
11!
rt5 r76 t11.19o
3. ANIMAL
TALES Rqna . the Fox Nigel's Footu' Mt'aot The Ptisonefs Exit
\pntefts' M e tan
l4a-230
otqh
rt8 \19 r8o os es
Houyhnhnms / lwiftt Fnnce s PenTuin Island Orwell's Animal Farm
r48-r59 118
r5r
'56
Mtn.Ia,s?u
Cartoll's Al;cc L,rciar.'s Trup HistotY
t41
r51
r73
115
Raspe's
r43
r5r t52
tll
Bellamy and Wells
r37
143
r.i. THE DIsToRTING V' \lrRRoR
'63 '63 r64
g-P at t y 1 \'ria'r.'s D t in kin
in Eisenhouese 43
Fietdinl's I ose P h An * eu s H.atre s Condensed Nolels Ree\bohm's C hristmat Gar lan d Fadiman on IVoUe De Vries on laulkner
t6o 16r
MeDippus Ariosto and Milton Rabelais Epistemon
r3r Aristophanes and the young Chaucer's str rlofar
r59 r59 16r
1?9
Padnit .Da)
G?
s
nrranot? Maurois lrricoler More and Rabelai,
1,8
Jensen's
Traw&
123
I59'I?7
I'
Aristophanes' B;rdr and fi/arPs 'Ihe aapeks' Ins€ct comedy tonescos Rhino.eros Peacock's Sir Oran Haut-Ton Collier's His ttonkey W;f e
. xi)i
'
r8r '8s '8,{ r85 r8?
'87 '89 r89
CON?'N?S +
CONTLNTS
DISTORTDD Flatbett
s
Bouuard. and.
Pldt.h"t
Wavgh's Declhe and FaIl Lewis, Peaco.k, Huxtey IIccarthy and Ja ell
r9o:()6 r9r
Brant's ShiP af raok ltoc.accio's Coutbash Lucretius, lloiteau, Swifi on $omcn Hogarth's Gin Lane"
r93
?,6 ?,8
r96
r96
v. coNCLltstoN
231-244
1
r98 Dickens
Pichtuich Pdpers Waugh s S.o/i l(rrg r ,4Iadptn Eu take
,98
Cer\rD[es
r99
s
ron o,t\./P
Grinrmehhausenis
Bfton
t
S
r99
imp Uciss;mus
Dan luan
Linklater's luan in Ameri.a waugh's B1d.li Mischiel and 'rhe Lourt
lctters
5. THE STRUCTURtr OI SATTRTC STORIf,S AND PLAYS Episod;c: ?rl O!rlglasr Improbable: Romains' ,r. ,(zo.t
205
,o6-er3
ielding
s
I onathan
I"SCRI?TIVE
W
ikl. the Creat
SATIRE
Pctronitx\ Banqr?f of Ttimabhio R€gnier and Boileau Dickens, Waugh, Prousr
238
Personal grudges
inferiori!y and injustice Wish to amend vice and folly D€sire to make an aesthetic pattcrn Idealism sense of
241
,08
245 247
AND ,r3-2r9 Gibbot\'s Decline and Lall af the RDnan
F
235
Motivcs of die satirist:
6. IIISTORY
Strtcltef 's Emin ent V ict orians Le Sage's Ctl Blas Mottet's Hajji Baba al Ispahan
,33:38
r38 r43
Shocking: Rabelajs' Panurae Comical: Petroniuss SatyrlTa
EntPire
fie $ord "satire"
Satire tel1s the truth; but $'hich trulh? Two iypes of satirist
Florac€k journ€y to Brindisi
Nfontesquieu's Psrrtan
Meaning of
er3
?t6 2r8
2t8
rr8 ?r9-r3o
-278
279-2ar 2a3,301
INTRODUCTION
,1"?
\qt t , '* L is nor rlrc grrdr.'r rltc ol I;rcrarure. lt can- e/'J ,'ol, in 'Dirc ol rhc /mbiriou.,laims of one ot irs \f -^,.*.ri*l Lyagii d,ama and epic poerry.' Srill. it
is one of the most original, chaUenging, and memonble liorms.lli has been practiccd by some energetic mindsVoltaiie, Rabelais, Petroniu$, Suift; by some exquisitely graceful stylists Pope, Homcc, Aristophanes; and occa-
$ionally, as a parergon, by some great geniuses--Lucretius, Coethe, Shakespeare. It pictures real men and women, otten in lurid colors, but always with unforgettable clarity. It uses the bold and vilid language of its o n time, esch€wing stale clich6s and dead conventions. Where other patt(rns oI literaaure tend sometimes ro be formal and remote, '' $,.1[1_e_ilLe-e,._9+ly* q+d" dtggq- Where they use carefully lDscd models and rvork in a skillfully lighted s.udio, the s lirist cries, "I am a cameral I am a tape recorderl" If the results'$'hich he ollers us are not alrvays smooth wirh the tontours of perfect art, and if their tints are not harmoni, r)lrsly blended, they at least have th€ urgency and imme(liacy o{ actual life. In the rvork of the finest satidsts there
h dre minimum of colvention, the maximum of realiry. To
discover what satire is and what shap€s ia takes, the best rvay is to look at some good satirists, dealing with thcmes lehich rve regard as important.
Irirst, consider the problem of trafrc in the big citt doscribed by the Roman poet Tuvenal. To most o{ us loday, the streets jammed i'ith crowds and vehicles are tncrcly one more annoyance in our irksome lives, an incvimble price to pay for metropolitan luxury. IVe scarcely rcllize that thc infuriaring frustrations oI tmmc, by mal, lrculing our emotions, are injuring our health, and that the
j,.i,,'r ' .
r
INT&ODUCAlON belched from a million motors
are shorLening the int€rnal comthe age of before our lives. Juvenal lived
noxious
gases
bustion engine and the motor-horn; bu! he knew that megalopotitan rraBic w.rs more rlran a mere inr on!(nien'ei and so, although speakingin a tone of wry humort.he began his descdpdon of the trafrc problem in ancient Rome with chronic illness, and ended ii with violent deatll This is an excerpt from his third satire, in which a man who is leaving the city of Rome forever describes the abuses hich are ddving him away. (A few details have been modernized in the translation, in order to reproduce the intensely topical tone of the odginal.) Most sick men here die flom insonnia though first their illness starts with undigested food, lhal clogs the burning stomach. Who can cver sleeP in a renred aparrment? Pea,Frul r,L ic (orl\ in rh".irv rhere is the root of our sickne$: heavy buses squ€ezing through narrow twisted streels, and the .utscs of stalled rvould break a dcaf man's sleep, or kceP a wahus awake. To make a morning call, th€ millionaire js driv€n ed'il) rhrouglt rh" ' rosd' in hi' long limor'ine. reading his paper en roule, or w ting-yes, or slecping, for warmth and closed windows invite him to take a naPj yet he'll be carll. I kceP pretsing, but I ln tllo.led by a mighty surge in tront, my hiPs are squeezed bl thc shoving behind, an etbow hits me here and a fender there, now I am banged by a bean, now bified by a barrcl. NIy legs are thick with mud, a bauage of coarse shocs bunts me, upon my toe a soldier s boot stands fast- . . My n€wly mended coat is riPPed with a flick from a log ioeeling upon a truck; ncxt comes a h€avy girder suspended on a tmiler, poised like a threat of doom: tor if rhe a\le b.n.ath a lold ol heav) granire snaps, and pou$ out a rcckslide on the moving horde, wh;t will be left of their bodies? Bones and flesh alike
.4
TNTRODUCTION wlll {li$rpPcar. The poor viciims' corPses lvill vanish rrn
rltlcrlY
as
their soulslt
grucsome Picrure. And yel, in a grim way, funny' his Wlrcrr the ambulance arrives, Lhe interne will write on Iorn D.O.A., rvhich stands not for the clrstomary "Dead On Arrival," bu( for "DisaPpeared. Oblirerared- Annihilated"' Al(1, although exaggerated, there is a truth in this satire' I'mllic is toJ much rvi*r us, late and soon; it is corroding olrr newcs and amicdng our health; and, one of these days' lrtllc(s wc escape, iL will cru'h us olrr o[ exislence lo lhis ire: ar)caimcn we r;, ogniTe I he ( har a' Ier i'l i' fearur e' ot sat /li ir Lopicut; ir .laim' to be realirric ralrhouqh it is usL'all) 'exrrgliiiGd or di.torred): I' i. 'IofLiler ir i" informal: nrrri' ialthough o{ten in a grotesque or Painful manner)-it h funny-. And this is on€ of the tyPical forms.assqmed.by
A
tlllirc:
a
virtuallb-yi!h-olr! illErr"plio" i.iilloi t ims.tt, or a moufiPiece of the s
r\norher sacirist treats a more important theme in a difl'(rcnt an.l more ambitious manner. The history of the Irrl|nan race is a strange succession of light and darkness lllicf and exciting rhe bright periods usually are, long and rl l)born the yea$ of obscurity ln the life of our world one (,1 [h€ gloomiest ePochs was the Dark Age of ignorance ntrd barbarism that closed in after the fall of the western Itornan Empile. Libraries rvere destroyed Schools and univcr$ities diminished or disaPpeared. The sciences were lor:skills or rude crafisl{,l.tcn. The alts shrank to miniature to sor{id hamtorvns of villages' groups llitics dlvindled to less dumerous Ixcorning It N. The population fell away, nnd more gr;ss. lllireracy and suPerslition floudshed in a worlrt made up of rvarring Ldbes, 1on€ly settlemen$, and lrrrnclcs di'pl,,ed penons Monarchr 'ould nor \1'rire: rrcntly all laym.n rvere r.rnable ro read AlrFr long being
'5.
ia
,
r,..1
lNTRODUCTION prosperous and highly civilized, western Europe sank back into half a millennium of pov€rry, ignorance, and oPPr€s' sion, only to emerge in the twelfth century oI our €r:a, and then with vast dimculty and painful efiort. Today, when we recall the hideous devastation caused by th€ Second World war, and realize with horror that the next will be still more destructive, we can easily, too easilt imagile our
grandchildreat grandchildren half-barbarized, sruggling for a bare exlstence among ruins and deserts, reduced to Ihe life of prjm;rilc man, solitary Poor, na\ty bruri(h, and
shorr.,,s ttp1.r7.1 lr1.,r)! ar.'
,. Alexander Pope, like most intelligent men of the eighteenth century, lpoked back on that early time of troubles {'ith revulsion. In his most ambitious satlre, The Dunciad, he rvent so far as to forecast the imminena coming of a new Dark Age, brought on not by war but by the infectious spread of human pride, selfishness, and stupidity; and he made his chiel victim, pe$onifying all these vices, glory in a vision of past ignorance Fiumphing both in Rome and
in Rrit.inLol Rome hers€]| proud mistres, no$, no more of arts, but thundering againsr heathen lore: Her grey haired synods damning books unread, And Bacon trcmbling {or his bnzen head. Padua, r'ith sighs, beholds her Livy burn, And evpn rhe rnripode\ Virgilius mou,n. Se€ the cirque {alls, dre unpillared temple nods, Street! paved with heroes, Tiber choked with gods: Till Petert keys some ch sren€d Jove adorn, And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn; See graceless venus to a virgin tumed, Or Phidias broken, and Ap€lles burn€d. Behold, yon isle, by palmers, pilg ms trod, Men beaded, baid, cowled, uncowled, shod, unshod, Peeicd, patched, gnd piebald, linsey-woolsey brothers, Grave mummersl sleeveless some, and shirtless others.
That once was Bdtain.'
.6.
INTRODUCAION Although Pope ivas a Roman Catholic, he t\..rites here ln terms which anticipat€ Gibbon's famous epigram, "the S,ocll r..r' ord f.rii Lrlumph of Barbarism and Religion."s But these lines are q l.|!., slq,i,,'!, i '$,rp.rra, nol uttered by the satirist himseu. They are part of a long proph€tic speech d€livered by rhe spirit oI a dead poet, Itlmsell a champion of Dulness, to the hero of the poem,
lll a vision of Elysium. Every reader who knows ahe classics will at once recognize that this speech is a parody of one of thc greatest speeches in Larin poetry: rhe address of the dctrd Anchises, in Elysium, to his son Aeneas. The main (tnlception is the same in both: a prophecy of a rvorld wide clnl)ire, lo be brought into being by the efiorts of the hero lrnder the protection of a guardian dcity, and sustain€d by tlllghty champions who, still waitirg ro be born, pass before Itiu in a magnificent procession. Feature aftcr fearure re(lnlls the sixth book of rhe Aeneid.: the hero is led by a Slbyl; he sees the souls of the unborn, multitudinous as l)ccs, moving by the river of Lede; the mysrical doctrine o( lransmigration is imparted to hin; Irom a hilltop he is ihown the heroes of his race. IIowever, the rhemes of rhe lwo passages are dissimilar, indeed .ontraposed. The subject (tr the.,prophecy in the lzreid is the rise of Roman civilizalfor. tThe subject of the prophecy i\ The Dunciad is, in l,0rt at least, the reverse: the invasion, 6rst of ancienr, and thcn of modern, civilization by the forces of srupidity. The lotnrer is spoken by a majesaic figlrre, the spidL of Aeneas,s lnther norv endorved rvirh preternatural $isdom; rhe latrer, Ity n .ridiculous personage, the third-rate poet Elkanah ,1rl1le,\
lly
his broad shoulders known, and tcngrtr of ears..
N0verrlreless, the tone of rhe specch in The Dunc;ad is glllvc and at rimes enraptured, although its subjecr is botlr Iltttllrd and repellent. This is a ine example o[ the secoud lllnIl pattern of $adric rvriting: paro