SatireSatireThat which attempts to correct, That which attempts to correct, censure, and ridicule the follies censure, and ridicule the follies and vices of society – a kind of and vices of society – a kind of

protest, a sublimation and protest, a sublimation and refinement of anger and refinement of anger and

indignationindignation

Mockery

To make fun of something

Mockery

example:“Man is the only animal that blushes – or

needs to.” - Mark Twain

Sarcasm

A harsh, personally directed comment; to use praise to mock

someone

Sarcasm

example:to refer to a 98 lb. Weakling as a “real

he-man”

Hyperbole

Overstatement – to say more than you mean to say; to exaggerate

Hyperbole

example:“I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse!”

Understatement

To say less than you mean to say

Understatement

example:Mount Everest is not small

Understatement

example:Mr. Collins was not a sensible man.

From Pride and Prejudice

Parody

Mockery of a specific, known person, literary work, movie, event, etc.

Parody

example:General MacArthur said, “Old soldiers

never die, they just fade away.”Parodies:

“Old blondes never fade, they just dye away”

“Old soldiers never die, but young ones do”

Irony

To say one thing, yet to mean another

When there is a difference between appearance and reality

Irony

example:In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo & Juliet,

when Romeo tells Mercutio that his wound is slight, Mercutio says, “No, it’s

not so deep as well, nor so wide as a church door; but ‘tis enough, ‘twill

serve.”It’s not that deep, but deep enough to kill

him.

Irony

examples (according to A. Morisett)It’s like rain on your wedding day

It’s a free ride, when you’ve already paid It’s a free advise, that you just can’t takeIt’s a death row pardon, two minutes too

lateIt’s meeting the man of your dreams, and

meeting his beautiful wife

Zeugma

A figure of speech in which a verb or an adjective is applied to two nouns,

though appropriate only to one of them

Zeugma

example:in Henry V, Fluellen says,

“Kill the poys and the luggage.”

The verb “kill” cannot apply to luggage.

Zeugma

example:from The Rape of the Lock by A. Pope“One speaks the glory of the British Queen,

And one describes a charming Indian screen;”

by describing the gossip – it makes the gossip about the queen equal to that of the screen –

trivializing all of the gossip

Zeugma

example:from The Rape of the Lock by A. Pope“When husbands or when lap dogs breathe

their last”

by combining the death of the lap dog and the husband, it trivializes the death of the husband

Mock Epic

Imitates, yet exaggerates and distorts, the literary epic and its style

Mock Epic

example:“The garbage man, tall and strong, lifted his glittering can of rubbish high, as if it were a feather, and with the strength of

Thor, hurled it into the dumpster.”

Invective

Speech or writing which is denunciatory, abusive, or vituperative

Invective

example:Swift’s writing denouncing the English

nobility in Gulliver’s Travels

Reversal

Peripeteia – the reversal of fortunes, a fall

Reversal

example:In drama, usually the sudden change of

fortune from prosperity to ruin; but it can be the other way about

Wit

Suggests intellectual brilliance and ingenuity; verbal deftness. It is

commonly verbal. Most definitions point to the element of surprise in wit, which often induces laughter. It has been considered, since 1600, to be

one of the principal sources of comedy.