LECTURE 7

9. Satire
Satire/ sarcasm imply ridicule/mockery
- sarcasm: colloquial, bitter or cutting speech, intended to wound the feelings
(Greek: to tear flesh)
- Satire: a more formal/literary term
It is ridicule (bitter or gentle) of human folly or vice
- Satire- is a literary art that amuses but also insults and evokes feeling of
contempt and scorn for human actions.

Abrams: Satire is a literary art that is derogatory of others. It amuses but

also insults and evokes feelings of contempt and scorn for their actions.
(Abrams, M.H. 1999. A glossary of literary terms. Orlando: Harcourt)

Pollard: A satirist is like a preacher but he is in a difficult position since

he has to make his readers agree with him in identifying and
condemning behaviour of men and behaviour he regards as vicious. The
satirist is conscious of what things are and what things ought to be,
especially in exposing hyprocrisy

(Pollard, A. 1977. The critical idiom: satire Bristol: Methuen)

Sutherland: the satirist .feels a sort of compulsion when they see a

picture hanging crooked, to walk up to it and straighten it, so the satirist
feels driven to draw attention to any departure from what he believes to
be the truth.
(Sutherland, J. 1967 English Satire London; Cambridge )

Note:
Irony as a figurative lang. may or may not be used in sarcasm/satire
Irony may be used without sarcastic/satirical intent

Sarcasm/satire may exist without irony

- Sarcasm is cruel, it intends to hurt, like a bully
- Satire is both cruel and kind, like a surgeon who is cruel and kind!
-

irony is neither cruel nor kind. It is a device,like a surgeons scalpel

H. TONE
1.Tone in literature conveys the writers or speakers attitude toward the subject,
the reader or himself/herself.
2.It is the emotional colouring / emotional meaning of a work.
3.The tone of a poem may tell us how the speaker feels.
4.The tone may indicate the attitude of the poet towards a certain theme/issue
etc. eg. is the poet angry, sarcastic, affectionate and the like
5. The attitude of the poet/writer towards his subject and audience, as implied in
the text and inferred by the reader/audience, The tone may be serious or light,
formal or intimate, scornful or sympathetic, straightforward or given a double
edge by irony (Simpson 1968: 406)
6. However, tone isnt only attitude- it is what is found in the poem that makes the
attitude clear such as choice of words
7.Tone can be recognized by the elements of poetry eg. connotation, imagery,
metaphor irony, hyperbole etc.
8.In satiric poetry, usually the tone is withering contempt, amusement.
9. In some poems, the attitude is clear, whereas in others, the attitudes are so
mingled/ mixed that it is hard to find a definite tone.
10, The person in the poem conveys the mood/tone:

- the tone of a poem is the tone of voice that communicate feelings

- whose voice speaks to us?
- speaker is the poet himself?
- the persona is a fictitious character, not the poet

DICTION:

The choice of words, the vocabulary used in a literary text. The

appropriateness of a word is determined by its context.
Diction and tone constitute the language of poetry. The poet selects
certain words and grammatical structures to convey a situation or an
expression /feelings etc.
Some words chosen can be archiac or outdated according to the era.
Classical/traditional poems have different diction compared to
modern/postmodern poems.