Swift and Pope on Satire
Swift said that he wrote Gulliver’s Travels to 'vex the world '. Discuss the purpose of Augustan satire, with reference to works by Swift and Pope.
This essay will strive to prove that the ‘Augustan Age’ was the first example of a literary community using satire to directly challenge cultural, social, political and challenging intellectual issues. It is quite usual to find in satiric works of the 18th century an unusually direct assault from the writers against contemporary government officials. Before the ‘Augustan Age’, satirists had concerned themselves with disputes of religion or literature. For instance, English writers such as ‘Ben Jonson’ had previously been inclined to deal in broad social types, or those trying to deal with these issues had to conceal their meanings behind complicated, elaborate allegories. ‘Augustan’ satire tended to deal head on with the contemporary politics. Its aims were the leaders and commonly its subjects were Walpole, Marlborough, George II or Lord Wharton. This kind of direct action by satirists was largely due to the common mans ability to see how; “the Great Man of the state could be identified with the arch-criminal” (The Augustan Vision, 1978). This was only able to happen because of the centralisation of politics and culture, as the nation became more prepared, organised and commercial. Paralleled by the crime industry. The ‘Augustan Age’ is primarily concerned with literary works of the eighteenth century. This century has also been named the ‘Neoclassical Age’, and the ‘Age of Reason’. The term itself is derived from the awkward and self-conscious imitation of the innovative ‘Augustan’ writers, ‘Virgil’ and ‘Horace’, by many writers of the epoch. It references to the original ‘Augustan Age’ under the reign of ‘Caesar Augustus’ of Rome. More specifically, the ‘Augustan Age’ was ‘post-Restoration’ and encompassed much of ‘Alexander Pope’s’ writing life (~1690-1744). The key writers to consider from this age
This essay will strive to prove that the ‘Augustan Age’ was the first example of a literary community using satire to directly challenge cultural, social, political and challenging intellectual issues. It is quite usual to find in satiric works of the 18th century an unusually direct assault from the writers against contemporary government officials. Before the ‘Augustan Age’, satirists had concerned themselves with disputes of religion or literature. For instance, English writers such as ‘Ben Jonson’ had previously been inclined to deal in broad social types, or those trying to deal with these issues had to conceal their meanings behind complicated, elaborate allegories. ‘Augustan’ satire tended to deal head on with the contemporary politics. Its aims were the leaders and commonly its subjects were Walpole, Marlborough, George II or Lord Wharton. This kind of direct action by satirists was largely due to the common mans ability to see how; “the Great Man of the state could be identified with the arch-criminal” (The Augustan Vision, 1978). This was only able to happen because of the centralisation of politics and culture, as the nation became more prepared, organised and commercial. Paralleled by the crime industry. The ‘Augustan Age’ is primarily concerned with literary works of the eighteenth century. This century has also been named the ‘Neoclassical Age’, and the ‘Age of Reason’. The term itself is derived from the awkward and self-conscious imitation of the innovative ‘Augustan’ writers, ‘Virgil’ and ‘Horace’, by many writers of the epoch. It references to the original ‘Augustan Age’ under the reign of ‘Caesar Augustus’ of Rome. More specifically, the ‘Augustan Age’ was ‘post-Restoration’ and encompassed much of ‘Alexander Pope’s’ writing life (~1690-1744). The key writers to consider from this age
Bibliography: Pat Rogers, The Augustan Vision Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub The memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus, ed. Charles kerby-Miller (1988) 143 Samuel Johnson, “Milton,” in ‘The Lives of the English Poets (1905)