Satura Tota Nostra Est

Abstract

It may be doubted whether any word in the vocabulary of literary nomenclature is used more frequently or covers a wider territory than satire. It pertains not only to literature, but also to the casual utterances of daily life. It is not peculiar in passing beyond specific compositions which are called by this name, for the same thing is true of other words such as tragedy, or comedy, or lyricnames which may also be applied to situations of daily life, to plots and scenes of stories or novels, as well as to the formal compositions of the playwright or poet. But satire, I venture to believe, is a term more widely used than any of these. It is an indispensable label not only for scenes and situations of private and public life, but essential for the characterization of parts of almost every form of literary expression. Satirical comedy goes without saying; only less obvious is satirical epigram, satirical ballad, satirical novel; satirical essay and sermon are familiar and doubtless satirical tragedy may be instanced. In fact with the eclipse of formal satire and the paucity of deliberate satirists, we have almost forgotten that satire is primarily the designation of a form of literature. We have extended the word to designate a certain manner of humorous or ironical criticism of that which appeals to us as false, or pretentious, or insincere; oftentimes to mere banter of novelty or queerness. The wide need which the word satisfies may be seen from the fact that while the Latin used only the nominal form satura, subsequent times have extended it by verbal, adverbial, and adjectival forms. Tragedize and lyricize are curiosities of the dictionary, comedy has yielded no verb, but satirize is in everyone's working vocabulary. The word in its various forms has become an inevitable term of characterization for some part of the literature of all times and all peoples; for oriental and Greek writings which existed while the Latin tongue, which furnishes