Satire - American Lit II

Satire

The use of humor, irony or ridicule to expose and criticize society's flaws or people's behavior with the aim of alerting the public of a larger societal problem.

Horatian satire

Tends to be good-natured and light-hearted, looking to raise laughter to encourage moral improvement

Juvenalian satire

Tends to be bitter and darker; provides ironic criticism of contemporary persons and institutions, filled with personal invective, angry moral indignation, and pessimism; much harsher than Horatian in tone

Exaggeration

To enlarge, increase or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen

Incongruity

To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings. Particular techniques include oxymoron, metaphor and irony

Parody

To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place or thing in order to ridicule the original. For parody to be successful, the reader must know the original text that is being ridiculed

Reversal

To present the opposite of the normal situation or order