Week 2 - Heroic Verse

To understand the difference between satire in the context of John Dryden versus satire today, one must understand exactly what satire is and its importance to literature, politics, and culture. John Dryden is considered to be a very impersonal writer, as he incorporated almost every important aspect of life into his poetry, and his poems usually commemorate specific events that happened during his lifetime.

John Dryden was mainly a playwright, so it is not surprising that he is comfortable using wit and satire in his works. As theater was the contemporary form of entertainment at the time, the audiences were also very familiar with both satire and wit, which greatly contributed to Dryden's popularity. It makes perfect sense that a poem such as "Mac Flecknoe," which satirizes another poet at the time, Shadwell, a self proclaimed successor of Ben Johnson, would be found smart or at the very least entertaining to contemporary audiences of the time.

The way in which Dryden used satire in regards to events happening in his lifetime is most certainly still used today. The only differences are that now more people are educated enough to read and recognize satire, and the events and aspects of everyday life that are being satirized are different. Poetry is also not necessarily the main form in which things are satirized nowadays, as online articles and other forms of digital media are the more favorable outlets.

Perhaps one of the best examples of contemporary satire is the long-running and popular television series, The Simpsons. While it is nowhere near as popular (or clever, in my opinion) as it was about a decade ago, the way in which it comments on popular culture and events is the same. Usually, if there is something particularly unfavorable that an important figure does, or there is an event that happens worth satirizing, the writers will incorporate some aspect of that particular happening into a character who mirrors the figure, or a theme of the episode relating to the event. Sometimes it can even be a simple joke, but the viewer must still be able to recognize that it is satirizing something contemporary. This is definitely similar to Dryden's use of satire because, as previously mentioned, he tried to incorporate every important aspect of life into his poetry.