Satire and satirical writing

Use in the book

The title promises a ‘Satyricall Preface’ leading into the discussion. The opening warning that the name Democritus might mislead readers into expecting a pasquil or satyre therefore does not cancel satire. It checks a mistaken expectation about the whole undertaking. Shortly afterwards Burton describes responses that alternate between Lucian’s laughter, Menippus’s satirical censure and Heraclitus’s lament. His river image likewise lets a style flow from comic to satirical as subject or mood requires. The love preface later announces several parts, satirical, comic and mixed, rather than a single uniform tone.

The defence of the satirical practitioner is staged as an answer to an objection. If the writing seems too satyrical for a clergyman, Burton replies that Democritus said it; an assumed part is not identical with the actor, and the cento speaks through other authors. His appeal to the old Satyrists concerns that licence. Yet defiance turns abruptly into ‘No, I recant,’ confession of fear and a promise of a soberer treatise. The next Satyrist’s wit is paired with the injured people’s memories: verbal cleverness creates a risk of retaliation. Habit and disposition and Parrhesia retain the fuller accounts of costume and frank-speaking; here they explain why the practitioner noun never guarantees immunity. Memory and recollection, compact record memory · memories · local use 2, already explains their memories in this same sentence as lasting recollection of injury and possible retaliation.

The verbal-injury subsection makes that risk concrete. Its list places Satyre beside pasquil, fable, epigram and stage play as things capable of wounding. The Aretino pension story says, ‘as some relate,’ that rulers paid to avoid attack in his Satyres. Later, however, Burton expressly exempts those who criticize vice in general and distinguishes them from writers who name, slander or affront particular people. Even a real offence, the preceding paragraph says, does not justify humiliation. Tax already explains this ethical distinction and the censure verb; satire names one medium and satirist one class of agent within it.

The spoken extension is especially sharp in the account of envy. A Satyre can be what the envious man says, not a formally composed poem; elsewhere injured self-interest turns good words into Satyres and invectives. Biting speech also appears in the conditional astrological account and in the description of discontented sufferers who ‘taxe satyrically.’ The latter whole construction remains with Tax, Tax satirically. These historical moral and symptom accounts should not turn all critical writing into a disease, nor their predicted harms into a necessary course of illness.

Latin keeps the literary term visible in borrowed formulations. ‘Difficile est Satyram non scribere,’ difficult not to write satire, excuses the possibility that the anatomist’s knife may slip and wound. The next paragraph offers another retreat if offence arises. Later, satyræ against women enter a defence that puts blame on cited ‘women-haters,’ then claims that the criticism applies for the most part to men too. The attribution of a voice does not establish the truth of its charges. In religious controversy Burton can laugh at opponents’ Satyrs and then lament the bloodshed surrounding their quarrels. The target and the change of response remain consequential.

Menippean satire is a more specific literary designation, explained in the supplied note through the mixture of forms and registers. Burton names Varro’s Satyram Menippeam in the discussion of preventing marital trouble and reports it lost. Original marginal citations also label later works Satyra Menip. and Satyr. Menip. A fictional lunar journey and Cunaeus’s declared invention provide a contrast with the theologians whom Burton accuses of claiming real access to divine affairs. The label identifies a literary kind; it does not certify either the narrated voyage or the ensuing religious allegations.

Related entries

Tax: satirical censure, general vice versus personal abuse and the existing taxe satyrically record, Tax · taxe, V005 and V010.

Parrhesia: frank speaking, its claims and reversals.

Habit and disposition: assumed costume/persona, assumed habit.

Liberty and servitude: literary permission and its limits, liberty · local use 3.

Envy, malice and hatred: the envious speaker and the change from friendly to hostile words.

Apologize: defence and the distinct fable/fable-writer vocabulary, apologue–V006.

Cento: the composition assembled from borrowed voices.

Cacoëthes and scribbling: the writing-itch and disparaged literary production.

Memory and recollection: the injured people’s memories in the shared satirist sentence, memory · memories · local use 2.

Places to read

1. The Anatomy of Melancholy · paragraphs 15–17title-page Satyricall Preface and the useful/pleasing motto.
2. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 2–4; Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 10–13mistaken expectations and mixed emotional responses.
3. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 17–18; Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 26–29Persius’s satires and Burton’s changing style.
4. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 21–41objection, borrowed persona, defiance, recantation, memory of injury and Satyram.
5. Subsection 7. Envy, Malice and Hatred as Causes · paragraphs 6–9satire as bitter speech.
6. Subsection 4 How Mockery, Slander and Bitter Jokes Cause Melancholy · paragraphs 25–29; Subsection 4 How Mockery, Slander and Bitter Jokes Cause Melancholy · paragraphs 48–52lampoons, Aretino, injury and the explicit exception for general vice-criticism.
7. Subsection 3 Particular Symptoms From the Influence of Stars, Parts of the Body and Humours · paragraphs 4–6; Subsection 3 Symptoms of Melancholy Abounding Throughout the Body · paragraphs 25–26; Subsection 4 Symptoms of Melancholy in Unmarried Women, Nuns and Widows · paragraph 27historical speech and symptom settings.
8. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 6–8; note 5572; note 5574Menippean citations in the accompanying note and the accompanying note, beside fiction and theological presumption.
9. Member 7 Against Rejection, Abuse, Injuries, Contempt, Disgrace, Insults, Slander, Mockery and the Like · paragraphs 19–21pasquilling libels and the proposed response to disgrace.
10. Section 1. Member 1. Subsection 1 The Preface · paragraphs 19–24satirical, comic and mixed acting parts.
11. Member 2 Subsection 1 Human Love, Which Varies With Its Objects: The Useful, The Pleasant and the Honourable · paragraphs 47–49satire as bitter speech.
12. By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men and Women, the Miseries of Marriage, the Consequences of Lust, and So Forth · paragraphs 10–14; Prevention Before or After Marriage: Plato’s Community of Wives; Marrying a Courtesan; Love Potions; Brothels; Marrying Someone Equal in Age and Fortune, From a Good Family, Well Educated and of Good Standing; Treating Wives Well; and So On · paragraphs 1–3satyræ against women and Varro’s Menippean work.
13. General Symptoms: Love of Their Own Sect; Hatred of All Other Religions; Obstinacy and Ill Temper; Readiness to Undergo Any Danger or Adversity for It; Martyrs; Blind Zeal and Blind Obedience; Fasts and Vows; Belief in Incredible and Impossible Things. Particular Symptoms Among Pagans, Muslims, Jews and Christians; and Among Christians, Heretics Old and New, Schismatics, Scholastic Theologians, Prophets, Enthusiasts and So On · paragraphs 29–33religious satire and the turn to lament for bloodshed.

In this edition

Satyre and its literary plurals become satire and satires; the modern word alone does not reveal whether a written work or a spoken attack is meant. In ‘satyrically tax,’ ‘exposed faults through satire’ is a construction-level rendering: exposed faults translates tax, through satire the manner. In ‘passionate & satyricall in their speeches,’ the modern text changes adjectives into adverbs after speak. Pasquelling libels becomes lampoons, while pasquilling libels becomes satirical libels in the consolation. The latter remains personally abusive writing in context, not a definition of all satire.

Satyram, satyræ and Satyris are Latin forms of the literary noun, not English plurals for mythical beings. In the Aretino margin, Satyris suis supplies in his satires; the negative purpose and the rulers’ conduct come from other parts of the construction. Menip. abbreviates the Menippean designation in the bibliographical phrases; it does not translate the title or publication year. The English translations and identification of the works in the accompanying note and the accompanying note are editorial layers, separate from the quoted original margins.

satire

A composition that censures or ridicules folly or vice; it can also be a personally wounding literary attack. The word does not by itself settle the legitimacy of the target.

Grammar: Count noun: singular satyre/Satyre and plural satyrs/Satyrs/Satyres.

Original text: “expecting a pasquil, a satyre, some ridiculous treatise”. In the modern column: “expecting a lampoon, a satire, some absurd treatise”. The adopted name Democritus might lead a reader to expect a lampoon or ridiculous book, an expectation Burton warns against. Anticipated mistaken expectation, including the parenthetical admission that Burton himself might have expected it; not a wholesale disavowal of satirical writing. Satyre gives satire; pasquil separately gives lampoon. The whole list is the object of expecting, not Burton’s declaration that his whole book is a lampoon.

Original text: “Probus of Persius satyrs”. In the modern column: “Probus says of Persius’s satires”. Classical compositions supply a comparison for eager reception of Burton’s book. Burton applies the comparison only in some sort and follows it with mixed reception. The Probus text remains an attributed classical source. The possessive is modernized; satyrs means literary satires, not mythological creatures.

Original text: “these pasquelling libels, and Satyrs”. In the modern column: “such lampoons and satires”. Satirical works can distress rulers and become instruments of threatened reputational injury. The pension story is expressly as some relate. Later the passage exempts general criticism of vice from personal-abuse condemnation. Satyrs gives satires; pasquelling libels gives lampoons as a whole. The same source later prints Satyres for Aretino’s works.

Original text: “their Satyrs, invectives, apologies, dull and gross fictions”. In the modern column: “their satires, invectives, defences and dull, crude fictions”. Satires are one sort of writing in the quarrels of religious orders, alongside distinct attacks, defences and fictions. Burton’s Protestant polemic and moral judgement. The same unit turns from laughter at dispute to lament for bloodshed, so satire is not its only response. Satyrs corresponds only to satires; apologies separately means defences.

satirical

Characterized by satire, mocking or censorious in tone; applied to a preface, a changing style, an objection to clerical writing and biting speech.

Grammar: Adjective: Satyricall, satyrical, satyricall; the speech construction is recast with a modern adverb.

Original text: “With a Satyricall Preface. Conducing to the following Discourse.” In the modern column: “With a satirical preface leading into the following discussion.” The title advertises a satirical preface serving the following discussion. Engraved-title transcription, not running prose; the accompanying note describes the title layer. Satyricall gives satirical; Conducing supplies leading into, not the adjective’s definition.

Original text: “now comical, then satyrical”. In the modern column: “comic, then satirical”. Satirical is one tone in the river-like variation of Burton’s style. Burton’s self-description depends on the subject and his disposition, not a promise of uniform satire. The two adjectives align; the original temporal alternation is retained.

Original text: “too satyricall for one of my profession”. In the modern column: “too satirical for someone of my profession”. The adjective specifies an objection to what is appropriate for a clergyman. Anticipated objection, not an unqualified authorial verdict. His reply invokes Democritus and borrowed voices, then recants. Too preserves the alleged excess; the profession is Burton’s clerical calling.

Original text: “are passionate & satyricall in their speeches”. In the modern column: “speak passionately and satirically”. Biting or mocking speech is attributed to a planetary type within the historical symptom account. Conditional If Mars branch of reported astrological classification; it is not a modern diagnosis or a property of all satire. Adjectives plus in their speeches are recast as verb speak plus adverbs. Satyricall corresponds to satirically, not to the whole sentence.

satirically

In a satirical manner, exposing faults or playing a censorious literary part.

Grammar: Adverb printed satyrically and Satyrically.

Original text: “satyrically tax with Menippus”. In the modern column: “exposed faults through satire with Menippus”. Satirical censure is one of the narrator’s alternating responses, alongside Lucianic laughter and Heraclitean lament. Sometime/at times and the adjacent mixed passion prevent treating this as his sole voice; abuse which he could not amend motivates the movement. Tax supplies exposed faults; satyrically supplies through satire; with Menippus names the model.

Original text: “some Satyrically, some Comically, some in a mixt Tone”. In the modern column: “some satirically, some comically, some in a mixed tone”. The love preface ends by announcing several performed parts selected as the subject or scene requires. Burton’s resolve after requests for favourable interpretation and pardon; not a withdrawal of the book’s serious purposes. Each adverb specifies the way a part is acted; mixed tone is a third alternative, not a translation of Satyrically.

satirist

A writer practising satire; the name may identify a licensed literary predecessor or a writer vulnerable to the injured reader’s memory.

Grammar: Plural agent noun Satyrists; singular possessive Satyrist’s.

Original text: “what liberty those old Satyrists have had”. In the modern column: “the freedom the ancient satirists enjoyed”. Earlier satirists provide a precedent for speaking through an assumed role and other writers’ words. Burton’s defence of borrowed voice; the subsequent recantation and fear prevent converting the claim into actual immunity. Satyrists gives satirists, old ancient and liberty freedom. Those other terms are separate components.

Original text: “They fear a Satyrist’s wit, he their memories.” In the modern column: “people fear a satirist’s wit, while he fears their memories.” The writer’s wit can wound, but the offended people remember and may retaliate. Bacon-attributed observation in an apology asking that wrongdoing be forgotten and forgiven; exact quotation uncollated. The modern sentence supplies fears in its second clause and resolves They as people; their refers to the people injured, not to the satirist.

Original text: “Satyrists, Epigrammatists, Comœdians, Apologists”. In the modern column: “satirists, epigrammatists, comic dramatists, writers of fables”. Satirists appear among practitioners exempted from the attack when they criticize vice generally. Explicit I speak not... but construction: general vice-criticism is distinguished from naming and affronting particular people. Satyrists gives satirists. The distinct Apologists is rendered writers of fables with editorial probability, not an additional meaning of satirist.

satire (spoken attack)

A bitter, mocking or censorious utterance; an extension beyond the name of a written composition.

Grammar: Singular predicate noun Satyre after every word; plural Satyres as the hostile replacement of good words.

Original text: “every word he speaks a Satyre”. In the modern column: “every word he speaks a satire”. The envious man’s speech is represented as continual bitterness at other people’s success. Moral portrait of envy, not a claim that the speaker composes a formal literary work with every utterance. Later examples include people who correct their envy. The modern noun remains satire, but word he speaks establishes the oral application. Every is the text’s heightened characterization.

Original text: “good words to Satyres and invectives”. In the modern column: “kind words become satires and invective”. An injured material interest transforms friendly language into abuse. Burton’s generalizing account of self-interest, supported by a catalogue of insults, not a neutral claim that all satire is envy. The ellipsis in the original list is unfolded with become; Satyres corresponds to satires, with invectives a second noun.

satyra

Latin satire: a satirical composition or attack, with case forms marking its different roles in a sentence.

Grammar: Satyram is accusative singular after scribere; satyræ is nominative plural in the passive containment clause; Satyris is ablative plural naming the medium of censure.

Original text: “difficile est Satyram non scribere”. In the modern column: “It is difficult not to write satire.” Juvenal’s maxim excuses the temptation to lash out while anatomizing folly. Quotation from Juvenal identified in editorial the accompanying note; follows the slipping-knife apology and precedes a further promise to deny and recant if offended readers object. Satyram supplies satire; difficile est supplies It is difficult; non scribere supplies not to write. The negative is essential.

Original margin: “ne mores ipsorum Satyris suis notaret”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “so that he would not censure their conduct in his satires”. The margin specifies the feared medium of Aretino’s censure. Original margin; the English rendering is supplied in that note. The adjacent body qualifies the pension account as some relate; exact Barth source remains uncollated. Satyris suis supplies in his satires, mores ipsorum their conduct, notaret censure and ne the negative purpose. The whole phrase is not assigned to Satyris alone.

Original text: “non possunt invectivæ omnes, & satyræ in fœminas scriptæ, uno volumine comprehendi”. In the modern column: “All the invectives and satires written against women cannot be contained in one volume.” Satires against women are invoked to shift blame to the writers Burton cites. Borrowed misogynistic invective, followed by Burton’s qualified claim that most criticism applies to men as well. It does not establish the truth of allegations about women. Satyræ gives satires, invectivæ invectives, in fœminas against women, scriptæ written; the negative and one-volume limit belong to the whole construction.

Menippean satire

A satirical literary designation, associated in the supplied annotation with mixing forms and registers; used for Varro’s work and in citations of later literary fictions.

Grammar: Latin accusative phrase Satyram Menippeam in the English body; nominative Satyra with abbreviated Menip., and abbreviated Satyr. Menip., in citations.

Component access (Menippeam): Accusative feminine singular adjective agreeing with Satyram; contributes Menippean alone, not satire, the author or a book title.

Component access (Menip.): Abbreviated Menippean designation in Satyra Menip. and Satyr. Menip.; the full citations separately provide the satire noun, title and year.

Original margin: “Hercules tuam fidem Satyra Menip. edit. 1608.” Supplied note translation or expansion: “Hercules, I Appeal to Your Protection: a Menippean satire, edition of 1608.” The margin labels the work used for a poetic lunar journey. Original marginal citation the accompanying note; the identification with Heinsius is supplied editorially in the accompanying note, and the exact quoted passage remains uncollated. Satyra Menip. aligns only to a Menippean satire; the opening words are the title, and edit. 1608 supplies edition of 1608.

Original margin: “Sardi venales Satyr. Menip. An. 1612.” Supplied note translation or expansion: “Sardinians for Sale: a Menippean satire, 1612.” The citation identifies Cunaeus’s work beside an explicit disclaimer of fictional truth. The body’s fictional disclaimer is contrasted with theologians who claim serious access to divine affairs; Burton’s subsequent religious attacks are his polemic. Satyr. Menip. is the abbreviated genre label, not the title Sardi venales or the year.

Original text: “Varro writ Satyram Menippeam, but it is lost”. In the modern column: “Varro wrote a Menippean Satire for this purpose, but it is lost.” The named satire is introduced among works offering ways to avoid marital troubles. Burton’s bibliographical claim; the accompanying note says quoted by Gellius, and the accompanying note supplies the explanation of mixed forms/registers. No complete lost work is reconstructed. Satyram Menippeam gives a Menippean Satire; for this purpose is supplied from the preceding To this purpose. Lost is Burton’s report, not a new modern finding.

pasquil and pasquiller

A pasquil is a lampoon or personally abusive writing; pasquelling/pasquilling characterizes such writing, and a pasquiller is its writer. These are related forms, not synonyms for every satire.

Grammar: Count noun pasquil; plural agent noun Pasquillers; participial adjectives pasquelling and pasquilling modifying libels.

Original text: “a pasquil, a satyre”. In the modern column: “a lampoon, a satire”. The neighbouring names distinguish a lampoon from the broader satire label within the anticipated mistaken expectation. Anticipated reader expectation, not an assertion that the present book is a lampoon. Pasquil gives lampoon; satyre separately gives satire.

Original text: “these pasquelling libels, and Satyrs”. In the modern column: “such lampoons and satires”. The first noun phrase names personally abusive writings that distress rulers. The account belongs to verbal injury and is followed by the general-vice exception. Pasquelling libels jointly becomes lampoons; libels alone is not ignored, nor does pasquelling alone translate both modern nouns.

Original text: “Pasquillers at Rome”. In the modern column: “the lampooners at Rome”. The agent noun names writers associated with lampoons at Pasquin’s statue. Reported Adrian VI anecdote attributed to Giovio; exact history uncollated, and the croaking-frogs reply is a witty deterrent, not a literal transformation. Pasquillers gives lampooners. Later Pasquils ashes names the statue/personified Pasquin, not papers’ ashes.

Original text: “pasquilling libels”. In the modern column: “satirical libels”. The phrase appears among injurious writings whose effect the consolation asks the reader to resist. Burton’s claim that disgrace is opinion concerns response to public judgement, not proof that every accusation is false. Pasquilling gives satirical in this construction; libels remains libels. The more general modern adjective does not erase the personally abusive context.