How does Dryden describe satire in a discourse concerning the original and progress of satire?

“The Art of Satire”, an excerpt from Dryden’s A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire, defines satire. He also says that intelligent people will understand satire, while a “fool” will not. Lastly, satire tends to make little things into big things and vice versa.

What according to John Dryden is the function of satire?

Today, John Dryden’s reputation is chiefly as a satirist of the Restoration period. In this light, Dryden has been depicted as a satirist committed to defending his righteous ideals about writing (Mac Flecknoe) and the succession to the throne of James II (Absalom and Achitophel).

What is satire According to Dryden?

Heinsius (in his dissertation on Horace) defines satire thus: “Satire is a kind of poetry, without a series of action, invented for the purging of our minds; in which human vices, ignorance, and errors, and all things besides, which are produced from them in every man, are severely reprehended; partly dramatically.

Is Dryden a satirist?

Dryden the poet is best known today as a satirist, although he wrote only two great original satires: Mac Flecknoe (1682) and The Medall (1682). His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel (1681) contains several brilliant satiric portraits. But unlike satire, it comes to a final, tragic resolution.

Why did Alexander Pope enjoy writing satire?

He used poetry as a great instrument of moral improvement and believed that satire was his most effective weapon to destroy corrupt customs and to expose the wicked. John Dennis in his monumental book, The Age of Pope remarks “It is a satirist that Pope, with one exception, excels all English poets.”

Why does Dryden prefer epic to tragedy?

Dryden further states that what cannot be presented on the stage can be presented in epic through words. So, Dryden feels that heroic poem or epic is the greatest work of human nature. In comparison to tragedy, the action in epic is greater than that of action in tragedy in terms of magnitude.

What was the most popular verse from Age of Dryden?

Dryden’s greatest achievements were in satiric verse: the mock-heroic Mac Flecknoe, a more personal product of his laureate years, was a lampoon circulated in manuscript and an attack on the playwright Thomas Shadwell.

What is the purpose of a satire?

Satire, artistic form, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to inspire social reform.

How old was Dryden when he wrote the discourse on satire?

The Discourse on Satire was prefixed to a translation of the satires of Juvenal and Persius, and is dated the 18th of August, 1692, when the poet’s age was sixty-one. In translating Juvenal, Dryden was helped by his sons Charles and John.

Where does the word Satira come from in Dryden?

But Casaubon, and his Followers, with Reason, condemn this derivation; and prove that from Satyrus, the word Satira, as it signifies a Poem, cannot possibly descend.

When did John Dryden write the essay of Dramatic Poesie?

Dryden’s discourses upon Satire and Epic Poetry belong to the latter years of his life, and represent maturer thought than is to be found in his “Essay of Dramatic Poesie.” That essay, published in 1667, draws its chief interest from the time when it was written. A Dutch fleet was at the mouth of the Thames.

How old is satire in the modern language?

If we take Satire in the general signification of the Word, as it is us’d in all Modern Languages, for an Invective, ’tis certain that it is almost as old as Verse; and tho’ Hymns, which are praises of God, may be allow’d to have been before it, yet the defamation of others was not long after it.