Swift, William Wood, and the Factual Basis of Satire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10068786 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J M Treadwell (Trent University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1976 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 76-91 |
| Publication date | 1976-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of British Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9371 • E-ISSN: 1545-6986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1086/385686 |
| OpenAlex | W2050896056 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
In satire, as in lapidary inscriptions, a man is not upon oath. Shadwell is a better playwright overall than Dryden, and Theobald a far better Shakespearean than Pope; and if Colley Cibber is a more appropriate stand-in for Dullness, few would regard Pope's treatment of him as wholly without bias. With Swift the case is even more clear. The butts of his satire were often men of the first importance, national or even international figures whose reputations were not to be shaped by satire alone. While Pope may have succeeded in imposing his version of Lord Hervey upon history, Swift's Wharton, and even more his Marlborough, now exist only in the rhetorical world of Augustan humanism. This somewhat tenuous relation between factual accuracy and artistic success, in satiric as in other portraiture, has long been appreciated, and critics now scarcely pause to defend the ground of literal truth before retiring to their prepared positions of literary tradition and rhetorical form. In general such strategy is sound, but occasionally it does the satirist less than justice. This is decidedly the case with one of the greatest of Swift's satiric portraits, that of William Wood, the unhappy victim of the Drapier's Letters
Art · Art history · Humanism · Literature · Portrait · Relation (database · Rhetorical question · Swift · Theology · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Philosophy · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2014 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |