Humor for the Intelligent Sort . . . Will You Get It? Satire in the Restoration

Session 1:Review Verbal IronyReview Dramatic IronyIronic Point of ViewParodyCaricatureHyperbole Juvenalian and Horatian Define satire:

Read Aloud: The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss Ask students to listen for details that compare to historical or current events. Once the reading is complete, ask students to share immediate thoughts and reactions to the book. With the basic motifs of the book identified, arrange students into small groups where they will find additional information that will provide background or explanation on the information that Dr. Seuss is exploring in the picture book. Remind students that the book was published in 1984, so historical references will most likely have to do with the early 1980s. Have students present their findings to the rest of the class.

Visit the Interactive Character Profiles page on The Simpsons Web Site: www.thesimpsons.com For each character that you choose, explore the profile information in the filing cabinet. Each file includes a biography with background information, pictures of the character, and other related information. Pages for human characters also include quotations from the character. Be sure to explore the folder with your mouse to find “Click It!” links on the right side of the folder. As you explore the folder, look for satirical details on the characters that reveal the comment or criticism of society that the cartoon is making through the character. Record observations for each of the characters that you choose on the analysis chart.

Listen to Rock music and analyze satire. “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends,” by Phil Ochs “Rockin’ in the Free World,” by Neil Young “Born in the U.S.A.,” by Bruce Springsteen

Watch episodes of The Simpsons and complete a viewing graphic organizer to analyze elements of satire. Opening Sequence from The Simpsons • Bart writing on the blackboard • Bart on his skateboard • Homer leaving and driving home from work • Marge at the supermarket checkout • Lisa playing the saxophone

• The family racing for the couch in front of the television "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish." The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season.

(Episode #7F01)

Session 2:Jigsaw the following historical, social, and literary elements of the seventeenth and eighteen century. Present the information to the class.

Age of Revolution Industrial Revolution Contrast England and France The House of Stuart The Commonwealth The Restoration House of Hanover Compare and contrast Charles I and Oliver

Cromwell Glorious Revolution Empiricism

Gather background information on the following philosophers. Record dates, nationalities, and chief contributions to 18c. thought: Adam Smith Thomas Hobbes John Locke Jean-Jacques Rousseau David Hume Montesquieu Denis Diderot Immanuel Kant

Journal: Respond to the following quote: “Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.” (Swift)

Session 3:Read pages 568-569 and complete the Diary and Journal graphic organizer. Read “A Young Lady’s Diary” from The SpectatorHomework: Complete the “Allegorical Characterization” graphic organizer to identify and analyze allegorical names of characters.Complete a DEJ to record quotes that describe behaviors on the left-hand side. In the right-hand column, identify what failure or foible in Clarinda that Addison satirizes. Journal: How can Joseph Addison’s “A Young Lady’s Diary” be described as an essay, a satire, a parody, and a diary.

30% Essay: Compose an entry in a diary that someone of your age might write today. Imitate Joseph Addison’s satirical tone. (at least one page, typed, double spaced)-Or-Keep a daily diary or journal until the end of this unit. Record at least three specific events, observations, or conversations every day.

Session 4:Political criticism: theory of literary criticism that suggests a work cannot be viewed clearly unless it is placed in cultural context. Political critics use a political lens to analyze the relationship of the text to social and economic class.

Political criticism is especially useful when analyzing literary works that try to bring political and social change. However, political criticism can also be used to analyze the motivations of less-overtly political literature.

To understand a text through a political lens, you must first understand the social and economic class of the time in which the literary work was created. You must know the author’s own political beliefs and the political causes that the author supported.

200-year-old religious divisions between Catholics and Protestants in England Political split between the Tories, who were obedient to the crown and the Church of England, and the

Whigs, who wanted to limit the powers of both institutions The Kings and Queens of the United Kingdoms – Stuarts British Civil Wars, Common Wealth and Protectorate – 1638-1660

English Civil War – 1642-1648Read “Understanding Literary Criticism: Political Criticism” on pages 538-539.

Session 5:Define EponymsComplete the Eponyms graphic organizerRead from Gulliver’s TravelsHomework: Complete the Political Criticism in Gulliver’s Travels graphic organizerRead “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home” (Craig Raines)Journal: The king of Brobdingnag had clearly never imagined gunpowder or firearms until Gulliver introduced him to these inventions. Notice how Gulliver describes the cannon – so familiar to him – in terms that a person completely ignorant with the concept would understand. In fact, Gulliver never even names what he is describing, but the image of a death-delivering cannon is vivid and terrible.Imagine that you are introducing 21-century technology to the king of Brobdingnag. Choose one of the following items and describe it, using Gulliver’s effective method or Raine’s “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home”. You may use prose or poetry. Do not name the object directly. Instead, use sensory clues and comparisons to make its appearance and function perfectly clear to a stranger from another culture.

Laptop computer Cell phone

MP3 player GPS device

Session 6:Read from CandideHomework: Complete Verbal Irony in Candide graphic organizerJournal: How are Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Votaire’s Candide different? How are they similar?

Session 7:EpigramsRead from The Rape of the LockHomework: Complete the Pope’s Epigrams graphic organizer Complete a DEJ to identify and analyze the satire in The Rape of the Lock

Session 8:Write an essay to explain how each of the texts in this unit functions as a political tool. Make sure that you combine textual evidence with research.

Jonathan Swift said he wrote satire to annoy and irritate the world, not to entertain it. He wanted to disturb people and make them think. In her introduction to Swift's works, Miriam Kosh Starkman elaborates on this idea, saying that a satirist must possess three traits: wit, anger, and concern. Satirists are angry about human error and foolishness; they are concerned enough to try to correct things; and they use wit as a way to make people see problems in a new light.

Now that you have studied how authors use satire in order to improve society; it is your turn to use your creativity and humor to demonstrate you understand satire. This can be an individual or a group project (groups no larger than three), and based on size, it will determine how many items you must produce for satire. No matter the group size, each person must have equal participation and submit a written critique of your final product.

Choose a social issue that you believe should be changed and write a satire about this issue, mixing critique with humor. You may want to consider the following in order to twist your criticism into a satire:

Use irony by saying the opposite of what you really mean Think of metaphors for the thing you are criticizing, and then make the metaphor literal Write an absurd solution to the problem you are criticizing. Make your proposal an exaggeration. Write a parody. Imitate the people you are criticizing in a way that makes them look ridiculous.

Adopt a manner of speaking that does not fit the subject matter. Be naïve. Focus on irrelevant details, and offer solutions that miss the important issues.

Speak in such a way that you make yourself guilty of the very thing you are criticizing.Brainstorm so that you have plenty of details. The more concrete and realistic, the better. Feel free to make things up; all is fair in satire. You only have to watch the effect that your details have on the satire. You could portray a parent scolding his/her child because the child is paying too much attention to the real world and not watching enough television. The genre of your writing may be an essay, song, video, skit, etc.

Each group must have these things: at least three characteristics of satire show each characteristic more than once to demonstrate you truly understand the concept include a typed explanation of what characteristics you used, where you used them, the purpose of their

use, and the effect of using them (Include if it is Juvenalian or Horatian and prove why it is one or the other.)

Satire in Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle BookEvent in Text Historical Reference Satirical Technique Purpose

Satire in The Simpson’s Characters

Character Satirical Detail Why It’s Funny Criticism of Society

Analyze Satire in Song

What the Singer Sings What He/She Really Means

Analyze Satire in an Episode of The Simpsons

Satirical Subject One Satirical Subject Two

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

What comment or criticism about the subject is made by the examples?

Satire in The Simpson’s Characters

Satirical Detail Why It’s Funny Criticism of Society

Bart writing on the blackboard

Bart on his skateboard

Homer leaving and driving home from work

Marge at the supermarket checkout

Lisa playing the saxophone

The family racing for

the couch in front of the television

Compare and Contrast the Diary and Journal as Literary Forms

Literary Elements Diary Journal

Definition

Voice

Tone

Monologues

Reliability/Accuracy

Publication

Interests

“A Young Lady’s Diary”

Genre

Tone

Authority

Audience

Allegorical Characterization

Name Word from Which Name is Derived

Definition of Word Description of Personality

When Students Write: Building a Writing Community

What I See What it Means

Eponyms

Definition:

Word Origin Definition Sentence

Lilliputian

Brobdingnagian

Yahoo

Scrooge

Svengali

Malapropism

Man Friday

Pollyanna

Shylock

ugly duckling

Political Context Chart

Political Categories Facts Sources

Social Class

Economic Class

Race Relations

Political Ideas and Viewpoints

Political Criticism in Gulliver’s Travels

Textual Support Why It’s Funny What it Satirizes

Setting and Mood

Point of View

Tone

Theme

Irony

Verbal Irony in Candide

What the Narrator Says What Voltaire Really Means

Pope’s Epigrams

Epigram Meaning

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

“Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”

“The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.”

Planning Your Satire

Who? and What? How?

Who or what is the target of your satire?

What is it about your subject that you would like people to reconsider?

Who is your intended audience?

What genre of satire would be most effective for your audience and why?

What kinds of things might you be able to parody or caricature to mock your subject? You may want to consider physical characteristics, friends, career, or intelligence of a particular person.

Original Satire Unit4 3 2 1

Focus and Format of Satire (Content)

Has a single, clear focus on a social or political issue. Effectively uses the genre chosen.

Has a single but slightly muddled focus on a social or political issue. Chosen genre is effective, but another genre might have been better.

Focus is muddled. Genre is not particularly effective given the social or political target.

Does not focus on a social or political issue. Chosen genre is not effective.

Criticism The criticism related to this issue is very clear and makes a valid and interesting point.

The criticism related to this issue is not entirely clear.

The criticism related to this issue is not clear; although satirical points were attempted.

The criticism related to this issue is not clear.

Devices The format meets all the device requirements. Devices clearly and directly relate to the author’s message.

The format meets all the device requirements, but not always with ease. Some seem forced. The use of these techniques is clearly and directly related to the author’s message.

The story is missing one of the required devices. It is not clear how these devices are functioning in this format or how these devices relate to the author’s message.

The story is missing more than one of the required devices. The purpose of the remaining techniques and how these devices relate to the author’s message is not identifiable.

Creativity and Humor

The story is highly entertaining, original, and laugh-out-loud funny.

The story is entertaining, original, and somewhat funny.

The story is somewhat entertaining, but not very original and induces little laughter.

The story lacks originality and is not funny.

Mechanics The story is practically flawless in terms of grammar, mechanics, and language.

The story has minor errors in grammar, mechanics, and language, but they do not interfere with the message being conveyed.

The errors in grammar, mechanics, and language interrupted the flow of reading.

The story has so many error it lacks simple proofing.

Note: The use of any profane language or inappropriate material deemed will result in the deduction of one full letter grade. Also, you may not satirize a person at school, nor may a person from school be represented in a derogatory aspect of your satire.

Notes

Other Sources of Satire to Consider: Saturday Night Live The Daily Show The Onion The Ironic Times “Family Guy” movies or writing of Mel Brooks plays of Aristophanes the work of Monty Python the fiction of Mark Twain National Lampoon select one of The Canterbury Tales

Satire is a literary device that uses irony or wit usually in a humorous way, to comment on orcriticize a person, group or event. Usually the intention of satiric writing is to force a change inbehavior or to sway public opinion.Satire includes these forms of humor:Parody is the simple imitation of a style—for example, comedians who imitate politicians’voices or gestures simply parody that person.Caricature often exaggerates a person’s peculiar features or style. If a public figure has a lot ofhair, for example, a caricature of that person might show him with a huge lion’s mane on top ofhis head in place of his hair.Satire often involves elements of both parody and caricature, but it is usually more complex thaneither of them. While satire intends to be humorous, its ultimate goal is usually a serious one.Satire has been used to call attention to dangerous living conditions, hypocritical public figuresand business leaders’ illegal actions. A good satire makes its audience laugh and causes them to reconsider an issue.Horatian satire--After the Roman satirist Horace:  Satire in which the voice is indulgent, tolerant, amused, and witty.  The speaker holds up to gentle ridicule the absurdities and follies of human beings, aiming at producing in the reader not the anger of a Juvenal, but a wry smile. Juvenalian satire--After the Roman satirist Juvenal:  Formal satire in which the speaker attacks vice and error with contempt and indignation  Juvenalian satire in its realism and its harshness is in strong contrast to Horatian satire.