Satire’s terms, techniques, and devices*
Engl 331 F12
sat.ire n.
1. A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
2. Irony, sarcasm, or caustic [bitterly cutting/burning] wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or
stupidity.
“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
The satirist intends to describe painful or absurd situations or foolish or wicked persons or
groups as vividly as possible. He believes that most people are blind, insensitive, and perhaps
anesthetized by custom and resignation and dullness. The satirist wishes to make them see the
truth - at least that part of the truth, which they habitually ignore.
The essential attitude in satire is the desire to use precisely clear language to still an audience to
protest.
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Horatian: After the Roman satirist Horace: 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 the anger of a Juvenal, but a wry smile.
Juvenalian: After the Roman satirist Juvenal: Formal satire in which the speaker attacks vice
and error with contempt and indignation Juvenalian satire in its realism and its harshness is in
strong contrast to Horatian satire.
Burlesque: A form of comedy characterized by ridiculous exaggeration and distortion,
especially of language. A serious subject may be treated frivolously or a frivolous subject
seriously. The essential quality that makes for burlesque is the discrepancy between subject
matter and style. That is, a style ordinarily dignified may be used for nonsensical matter, or a
style very nonsensical may be used to ridicule a weighty subject. [See Alexander Pope's The
Rape of the Lock for an example of high burlesque.]
Parody: A composition that imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a
particular work, or the distinctive style of its maker, and applies the imitation to a lowly or
comically inappropriate subject. Often a parody is more powerful in its influence on affairs of
current importance--politics for instance--than its original composition. For parody to be
successful, the reader must know the original text that is being ridiculed. It is a variety of
burlesque.
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Reductio ad absurdum: A popular satiric technique (especially in Swift), whereby the author
agrees enthusiastically with the basic attitudes or assumptions he wishes to satirize and, by
pushing them to a logically ridiculous extreme, exposes the foolishness of the original attitudes
and assumptions. Reductios are sometimes dangerous either because the reader does not
recognize the satire at work or because the reader fails to identify the target clearly.
Caricature: A literary style focusing on one characteristic, quality, or feature of a person or
group of people, exaggerating it to a humorous level. Caricatures are most often and obvious in
political cartoons
Exaggeration: To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it
becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
Wit: Verbal cleverness. Wit suggests intellectual brilliance and delight in its ability to entertain,
and requires verbal skill beyond a simple knowledge of words. Wit is often used ironically, or
even sarcastically, to ridicule or insult someone.
Epigram: Short, comic remark typically containing a "surprise" at the end, which makes it
humorous. While clever, epigrams are often obscene or nasty in nature. Successful epigrams are
used to insult another.
Repartee: A person's ability to respond to an insult quickly and directly, often using sarcasm or
wit in the response.
Allusion: a reference to another famous or well-known event, work of literature, person or group
of people, film, artwork, etc.
Tone: the author's attitude toward a subject. In satire, tone is often achieved through diction
(word choice) and incongruous juxtaposition.
Antithesis (plural: antitheses): Using opposite phrases in close conjunction. Examples might be,
"I burn and I freeze," or "Her character is white as sunlight, black as midnight." The best
antitheses express their contrary ideas in a balanced sentence. It can be a contrast of opposites:
"Evil men fear authority; good men cherish it."
Incongruity: To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.
Particular techniques include oxymoron, metaphor, and irony.
Oxymoron (plural: oxymora): Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a
deeper level. Simple or joking examples include such oxymora as jumbo shrimp, sophisticated
rednecks, and military intelligence. The richest literary oxymora seem to reveal a deeper truth
through their contradictions. These oxymora are sometimes called paradoxes.
Reversal: To present the opposite of the normal order. Reversal can focus on the the order of
events, such as serving dessert before the main dish or having breakfast for dinner. Additionally,
reversal can focus on hierarchical order—for instance, when a young child makes all the
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decisions for a family or when an administrative assistant dictates what the company president
decides and does.
Irony:
verbal: A device where what is said is the opposite of what is meant. Sarcasm, a form of
irony employed to insult or slight, is its crudest form.
antiphrasis: A figure of speech in which a single word is used in a sense directly
opposite to its usual meaning, for example naming a giant Tiny.
meiosis: A rhetorical understatement by which something is referred to in terms
less important than it really deserves, for example calling a fatal wound a scratch.
ironic simile: Verbal irony where a speaker uses a form of simile to communicate
the opposite of what they mean, for example clear as mud.
structural: This devise involves the use of a naïve or deluded hero or unreliable narrator
whose view of the world differs widely from the true circumstances recognized by the
author and readers. It flatters its readers’ intelligence at the expense of a character (or
fictional narrator).
dramatic: A similar sense of detached superiority to that of structural irony is achieved
with this device. The audience knows more about a character’s situation than the
character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character’s expectations, and thus
ascribing a sharply different sense to some of the character’s own statements. (This is
often called tragic irony when in a tragedy.)
situational: Irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite
from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.
cosmic: Used to denote a view of people as dupes of a cruelly mocking Fate. Closely
connected with situational irony, it arises from sharp contrasts between reality and human
ideals, or between human intentions and actual results. The resulting situation is
poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended.
historical: Cosmic irony through time.
other techniques of satire:
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the degradation or devaluation of a victim by reducing his stature or dignity; befitting a
change in size
removal of signs of rank and status (usually clothes)
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animal imagery, which reduces man’s purposeful actions, the ambitious aims of which he
is proud and the lusts of which he is ashamed, all to the level of brute instinct.
vegetable or mineral imagery
destruction of the symbol (a satirist who wants to show that an emblem is being used for
unjust ends pretends not to understand its symbolic connotations; for example, the flag
becomes just a piece of cloth. The person fails to see the symbolic values which society
attaches to apparently trivial objects and actions.)
Satire’s Structures: Three Main “Shapes”
Monologue: The satirist usually is speaking from behind a thinly veiled mask. He states
his view of a problem, cites examples, and endeavors to impose his views on the
reader/listener.
Parody: The satirist takes an existing work of literature that was created with a serious
purpose, or a literary form in which some reputable books and poems have been written.
He then makes the work look ridiculous by infusing it with incongruous ideas; he makes
the ideas look foolish by putting them into an inappropriate form.
Narrative: Here the author does not appear. (Fiction speaks for him/her.)
Character types:
Pessimists: People with a gloomy outlook of the world and always expect the worst to
happen.
Misanthropes: Those who despise and distrust the human race.
Cynics: People who do not trust the sincerity and/or motives of others.
Optimists: A person who counters the pessimist. Those who view the world with hope
and expect the best outcomes.
Philanthropists: One, opposed to misanthropes, who works to better the world and love
the human race.
Pollyanna: Someone who trust "the sun will come out tomorrow" regardless of how
many misfortunes they must endure.
[*adopted from a variety of resources, including http://voices.yahoo.com/teaching-satireterminology-tips-tools-teachers-6940016.html?cat=4,
www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/422/satire_terms.html, and
http://www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/west/teachers/gerding/satire.pdf.]
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