Byron and the Satiric Temper

Abstract

One of the many bewildering features of satire is the fact that, although to be effective it must immediately be recognised, it is notoriously difficult to define. So far as it is an art it has form, or forms; but these have been so various that to define them in detail leaves the general nature of satire as elusive as ever. Perhaps it is best approached as a mood or temper, but even here the reference is necessarily wide. Most accounts have placed it between two extremes, traditionally represented by Horace and Juvenal. John Dennis wrote, for example:

There is in Horace almost every where an agreeable Mixture of good Sense, and of true Pleasantry, so that he has every where the principal Qualities of an excellent Comick Poet. And there is almost every where in Juvenal, Anger, Indignation, Rage, Disdain, and the violent Emotions and vehement Style of Tragedy.¹