Dryden and Satire (Week 2)
Dryden's conflict with Shadwell, and the subsequent satire of "Mac Flecknoe" reminds me of Dante's Inferno, where he put several of his rivals in the circles of Hell. I know Dryden's piece is not as blatant as Dante and that the situations are wildly different, but I find it humorous that other people have a widely known effect on a piece of literature.
Our text states: "Dryden exposed Shadwell to ridicule by using the devices of mock epic, which treats the low, mean, or absurd in the grand language, lofty style and solemn tone of poetry." (2237) Today, our President's choice of speech is taken to some absurd levels on comedy sections of SNL and even in a Batman comic where the president declared that Kryptonians would repair the destroyed Gotham city and it was going to be great. I about died laughing at how the successor in "Mac Flecknoe", someone who would "wage immortal war with wit" was chosen because of his physical similarities to his father (Dryden, 2237). Hahaha.
With Dryden, though, it does not take my prior awareness of his relationship with Shadwell to enjoy the comedy in this piece. I mean, context always helps to improve the reading experience. Today, however, it is a different story. If you are not keeping up with the news or Trump's twitter page then the memes and jabs can fall short. I, personally, try to avoid both Fox and CNN in an attempt to avoid depressing news. If I was to avoid social media as well, I would probably be entirely unaware of the jokes and satire more easily available to me. But the thing about satire is that it depends on context and a prior understanding of a medium (politics, for example) to be funny. Otherwise, you are just working with comedy. Dryden's tale is a little more lasting. You can read the information provided in our book in about 2 or 3 minutes and then read "Mac Flecknoe" with ease. If I wanted to show you some political comedy sketch, then we will probably sit for a few hours and discuss the history of both democrats and republicans.
Our text states: "Dryden exposed Shadwell to ridicule by using the devices of mock epic, which treats the low, mean, or absurd in the grand language, lofty style and solemn tone of poetry." (2237) Today, our President's choice of speech is taken to some absurd levels on comedy sections of SNL and even in a Batman comic where the president declared that Kryptonians would repair the destroyed Gotham city and it was going to be great. I about died laughing at how the successor in "Mac Flecknoe", someone who would "wage immortal war with wit" was chosen because of his physical similarities to his father (Dryden, 2237). Hahaha.
With Dryden, though, it does not take my prior awareness of his relationship with Shadwell to enjoy the comedy in this piece. I mean, context always helps to improve the reading experience. Today, however, it is a different story. If you are not keeping up with the news or Trump's twitter page then the memes and jabs can fall short. I, personally, try to avoid both Fox and CNN in an attempt to avoid depressing news. If I was to avoid social media as well, I would probably be entirely unaware of the jokes and satire more easily available to me. But the thing about satire is that it depends on context and a prior understanding of a medium (politics, for example) to be funny. Otherwise, you are just working with comedy. Dryden's tale is a little more lasting. You can read the information provided in our book in about 2 or 3 minutes and then read "Mac Flecknoe" with ease. If I wanted to show you some political comedy sketch, then we will probably sit for a few hours and discuss the history of both democrats and republicans.
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