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satire

(Encyclopedia)satire, term applied to any work of literature or art whose objective is ridicule. It is more easily recognized than defined. From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim: to expose foolishne...

Aristophanes

(Encyclopedia)Aristophanes ărˌĭstŏfˈənēz [key], c.448 b.c.–c.388 b.c., Greek playwright, Athenian comic poet, greatest of the ancient writers of comedy. His plays, the only full extant samples of the Greek...

Grabbe, Christian Dietrich

(Encyclopedia)Grabbe, Christian Dietrich krĭsˈtēän dēˈtrĭkh gräbˈə [key], 1801–36, German dramatist and journalist. Critical of “Shakespearomania,” Grabbe strove for a national German drama and wrot...

Juvenal

(Encyclopedia)Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis) jo͞oˈvənəl [key], fl. 1st to 2d cent. a.d., Roman satirical poet. His verse established a model for the satire of indignation, in contrast to the less harsh sati...

Churchill, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, Charles chûrˈchĭl [key], 1731–64, English poet and satirist. Upon his family's insistence he took religious orders in 1756, but life as a London dandy suited him more, and he resigned ...

Oldham, John, English poet and satirist

(Encyclopedia)Oldham, John, 1653–83, English poet and satirist. His best-known works are the ironical Satires against the Jesuits (1681) and A Satire against Virtue (1679). He was much admired by Dryden, who wrot...

Lucilius, Gaius

(Encyclopedia)Lucilius, Gaius gāˈəs lo͞osĭlˈēəs, gīˈəs [key], c.180–102? b.c., Latin satiric poet, considered the founder of Latin satire, b. Campania, Italy. About 1,300 fragments survive from his 30 ...

Hipponax

(Encyclopedia)Hipponax hĭpōˈnăks [key], fl. 540 b.c., Greek iambic poet. Banished from Ephesus after insulting the tyrants there, he went to live in Clazomenae. He is believed to have been the inventor of the c...

Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō gōˈmāth dā kāvāˈᵺō ē vēlyāˈgäs [key], 1580–1645, Spanish satirist, novelist, and wit, b. Madrid. In 1611 he fled to Italy after a duel...

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