A strategy of writing where the author tries to bring
awareness to an issue by poking fun at it or making it look
ridiculous.
Satire is all around us, and it pops up in
many forms of media.
Targets of satire
• Government
• Corporations
• Entertainment figures
• Society in general
The Golf Links
by Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn
The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play.
What is being satirized in this poem?
Elegy in a Country Churchyard
by G. K. Chesterton
The men that worked for England
They have their graves at home:
And birds and bees of England
About the cross can roam.
But they that fought for England,
Following a falling star,
Alas, alas for England
They have their graves afar.
And they that rule in England,
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas for England
They have no graves as yet.
Who is the target of this poem’s
satire?
a story that can be read on multiple levels. Often,
characters in the story will symbolically represent real
people or ideas.
Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!
-- Black Plague in 1665
-- red rings on skin
-- carried flowers in pockets
-- cremation of bodies
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!
-- Actually a cannon
-- Sat on top of a wall guarding a city.
-- English Civil War, 1648
-- Cannonball knocked the wall down
Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?
-- Farmer’s wife is Queen Mary
-- Catholic/Protestant conflict
-- 3 opposition protestants burned at the
stake
Mary, Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
-- Same Queen Mary, nicknamed
“Bloody Mary”
-- garden is a graveyard
-- “silver bells”, “cockle shells”
nicknames for torture devices
-- “maid”, nickname for a guillotine
X
Why is this passage considered an allegory?
A. The main conflict between the characters takes place before the story
begins
B. The weed growing in the garden represents a larger conflict in the story.
C. The story takes place in a small garden, and the main character loves
plants.
D. The story contains the main character’s thoughts but contains no dialogue.
What does the lavender plant most likely represent in the story?
A. Jen’s plan to help the planet
B. Jen’s desire to succeed in life
C. Jen’s anger toward her father
D. Jen’s friendship with Allegra