Saint Edward's Echo (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 24, 1932 Page: 5 of 8
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ST. EDWARD’S ECHO, FEBRUARY, 24, 1932
LITERARY SECTION
Do You Think
Straight?
♦
For a catalogue, address
The Registrar
u'
X
^*Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles.
Straight thinking is important in this age of isms.
The art of thinking is a fundamental of good education.
Training students to think logically is one of the chief
aims in the Arts and Letters, course at St. Edward’s.
Eighteen semester hours of philosophy, a subject that
disciplines the mind, are required in the Arts program.
’Encycl. Britannica—Vol. 24, p. 228.
^international Encycl.
“Backus, Outlines of Literature.
4Shuster, English Literature.
“Shafer, From Beowulf to Thomas Hardy, Vol. 1.
“Cambridge History of English Literature, Vol. VIII.
’Pope, Dunciad.
“Dryden Mac Flecknoe.
“Cambridge History of English Literature.
i-----1 HI-----
|CROSS
St. Edward’s University
Austin, Texas
5
V —
i
Satire, when used by such masterful writers as
Dryden, proved a very effective weapon in fight-
ing vice both in morals, and in governmental af-
fairs. I have observed that most of the great
satirists lived during periods of unrest. Lucilius,
Horace, and other Roman satirists lived during
the decline of the great Roman Empire. Florace
and Juvenal saw the reason—the loose morals of
the citizens as a whole—for the decay of the
great empire, built by the Caesars, and wrote
satires in order to try to better the morals of
the people. Dryden, in England, lived during a
period of political and ecclesiastical unrest and
wrote “Absalom and Achitophel” in support of
the Tories and James, Duke of York. Voltaire, in
France, lived during the period of unrest prior
to that great internal eruption, the French Revo-
lution.
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MEDICAL STAFF
M. A. CUNNINGHAM, M. D. F. D. VICKERS, M. D.
Resident Medical Director Surgeon
P. M. STEED, Sr., M. D. J. G. MOIR, M. D.
Internal Medicine Ear, Nose and Throat
M. J. MORAN, D. D. S.
Rates Reasonable
SISTERS OF THE HOLY CROSS, Supervisors
DEMING, NEW MEXICO
This course gives the best possible training for stu-
dents taking non-professional studies and the best
preparation for a later professional course. Catholic
students, especially, should know Catholic Philosophy.
Pope derived the idea of his “Dunciad” from
Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe.”
During the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, due to the political unrest of the Isle,
many satires were written by various men, among
whom are Oldham, Marvell, and Denham. Al-
though some are of merit, these political and ec-
clesiastical satires, as they are called, hold a low
place in literature. The writers seem not to have
aimed at literary perfection. They are the skir-
mishers of political warfare, “brandying darts all
the more poisoned and deadly because it was
known that most would miss their mark.”9 Many
of these so-called satirists were hirelings and,
consequently, held very little interest in the cause
they espoused. The writers of these satires, it
appears, “worshipped and loved animalism for its
own sake, not the 1 east when they searched
through every depth of evil in order to defame
their adversaries in the most brutal way pos-
sible.”9
ST. MARY’S ACADEMY, Austin, Texas
Affiliated With State University
SELECT RESIDENT AND DAY SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES
AND LITTLE GIRLS
IDEAL LOCATION—High, breezy, healthful
Pupils properly chaperoned may enjoy ali the cultural educational advantages of the
Capital City. Thorough Courses in English, Latin, Spanish, French, German, Art,
Expression, Physical Training.
UP-TO-DATE COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT
MUSIC DEPARTMENT includes advanced work in PIANO, HARMONY, HARP,
VIOLIN and VOICE
English Course Supplemented by Lectures, Given by Professors from
St. Edward’s University and the University of Texas
Enrollment Limited. References Required.
For Year Book, etc, address,
SISTERS OF THE HOLY CROSS
his successor. It was against this project that
Dryden directed his satire.”5 Dryden, in this
satire, is “frankly political, and it is not intended,
like ‘Hudibras,’ by means of a mass of accumu-
lated detail, to convey a general impression of the
vices and follies, defects and extravagances of a
particular section. . . . With Dryden, every hit is
calculated and every stroke goes home. In each
character brought on the scene, those features
only are selected for exposure or praise which are
of direct significance for the purpose in hand.”0
Names from the Old Testament indicate the lead-
ers of the Whigs in Dryden’s day. The Duke of
Monmouth was Absalom; the Earl of Shaftes-
bury, Achitophel; the Duke of Buckingham,
Zimri; etc.
Another of Dryden’s satires that deserves men-
tion is “Mac Flecknoe.” This satire is purely per-
sonal in motive and design. Richard Flecknoe
was an Irishman, formerly a Catholic priest, who
had “laid aside the mechanical part of priest-
hood”7 to devote himself to writing. Flecknoe is
represented as having abdicated his rule over “the
realms of Nonsense” in favor of the poet Shad-
well, for whom Dryden felt great contempt. This
satire brought discomfiture to the poets Settle
and Shadwell. Shadwell is represented as the
heir of Flecknoe’s stupidity:
Satire—A Brief Study
By HARLEY B. RILEY
“Satire, in its literary aspect, may be defined
as the expression in adequate terms of the sense
of amusement or disgust excited by the ridiculous
or unseemly, provided that humor is a -distinctly
recognizable element.”1 All good satires must
possess the following characteristics: There must
be a power of denunciation, a tone of urbanity,
pointed remarks and cleverness of style.
The early satires must have been coarse and
boisterous, and must have consisted chiefly in
gibing at personal defects and, outside of their
historical value, are of little importance and will
not be considered in this essay.
The satire existed in Italy from a very early
date. Caius Lucilius, a Roman writer who lived
^$mn 148 to 103 B.C., is considered the real inven-
tor of Roman satire. His satires seem to be most
satirical in the modern acceptation of the term.
The fragments of Lucilius’ satires are, unfortu-
nately, very scanty. Though Lucilius is consid-
ered the inventor of the Roman satire, the Greeks
used satire in various forms long before his time.
Homer’s description of Thersites is the earliest
form of satiric writing that has come down to us.
“The oldest Roman satires were a medley of-
scenic or dramatic improvisions expressed in
varying metres; but the sharp banter and rude
> jocularity of those unwritten effusions bore little
criticisms that formed the essential characteris-
tics of later satire.”2 Following Lucilius in the
list of Roman satiric writers are Horace, Persius,
and Juvenal. Each used a different style. Lu-
cilius is said to have seasoned the old Greek satire
with “Italian vinegar.” Juvenal was probably the
foremost satirist of the group. His satires are
declamations against vice. The satires of Horace
are full of moral maxims and worldly wisdom.
v JLPersius wrote homiles in praise of virtue and
"^gainst hypocrisy.
From Italy the satire spread to France where
this style of literature found a congenial soil. “Le
Roman la Rose” stands out as the most impor-
tant of the early French satires because of its
wide-reaching influeifce on the literature of Eu-
rope. From France, the satire spread across the
channel into England.
* The first English writer who styled himself a
fWatirist is Joseph Hall (1574-1656). In 1597, he
published three books of “biting satires” and two
years later three more of “toothless satires.” The
collective work is called “Virgidemarum.” These
satires contain the essential witty humor and lit-
erary qualities.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680) is the author of
“Hudibras,” considered the “longest, wittiest and
most pungent metrical satire in English.”3 “Hudi-
bras” is a satire upon the Puritan party. “The
metre is an eight-syllable jingle, helped out by
clever rimes and mock-serious expressions, which
carries its story as jauntily as a circus horse
bears its rider.”4
.^^JProbably the greatest of the English satirists is
John Dryden (1631-1700). His outstanding con-
tribution to satiric literature is “Absalom and
Achitophel.” This satire is considered the great-
est political satire in English literature and I will
discuss it more at length. “Absalom and
Achitophel” is written in heroic couplets. “The
Biblical story of the revolt of Absalom was used
as a thin veil fol satire to support of the king
and the Tories. Charles IPs rightful successor to
the throne was his brother James, Duke of York,
who was, however, opposed by the Whigs because
. Jfche was a Roman Catholic. The Whig leader, the
first Earl of Shaftesbury, wished to make James,
“ ’Tis resolved; for nature pleads, that he
Should only rule, who most resembles me.
Sh------alone my perfect image bears,
Mature in dullness from his tender years:
Sh------alone, of all my sons, is he
Who stands confirmed in full stupidity.’
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Saint Edward's Echo (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 24, 1932, newspaper, February 24, 1932; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1293909/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.