Satire
Satire: Writing that uses humor, irony and exaggeration to expose and criticise folly or vice.
Satire attacks by pretending to praise or merely describe; the reader's laughter is the argument landing. Its targets are institutions and behaviour, not individuals' looks.
Satire examples
"Swift's A Modest Proposal solemnly recommends selling Irish babies as food, to indict English policy in Ireland."
— A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift
"Animal Farm replays the Russian Revolution as a farmyard coup."
— Animal Farm, George Orwell
"Gulliver's Travels shrinks and enlarges humanity until its politics look as small or as monstrous as they are."
— Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
"Don Quixote sends up the chivalric romances its hero has read too many of."
— Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
Spot the Satire
Score: 0/0Writing that uses humor, irony and exaggeration to expose and criticise folly or vice.
"Swift's A Modest Proposal solemnly recommends selling Irish babies as food, to indict English policy in Ireland."
Which work is this from?
Explore every literary device in the poetic devices hub.
Satire: common questions
What is satire in literature?
Writing that uses humor, irony and exaggeration to expose and criticise folly or vice. Satire attacks by pretending to praise or merely describe; the reader's laughter is the argument landing. Its targets are institutions and behaviour, not individuals' looks.
What is an example of satire?
A classic example is "Swift's A Modest Proposal solemnly recommends selling Irish babies as food, to indict English policy in Ireland." (A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift).
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