Satire is defined as the literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation.
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Satire differs from the comic in that comedy evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself, while satire derides; i.e., it uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt - an object - that exists outside the work itself.
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The butt, or object, of satire may be an individual (in "personal satire"), or a type of person, a class, an
institution, a nation, or even the entire human race.
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Why bother writing satire? o Because, when properly written, it works. It is also necessary as a corrective of human vice and folly. Alexander Pope remarked that "those who are ashamed of nothing else are so of being ridiculous."
 The aim of satire is to ridicule the fault or failing of the individual - rather than the individual person - and to target only those faults that are correctable, not those for which the individual is not responsible. You can satirically ridicule a politician’s positions, but not the size of his ears. This is the difference between satire and mockery.
Satirical Modes
Literary: A writing or work whose sole purpose is satirical (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's
Travels and Voltaire's Candide)
Incidental: A writing or work whose overall mode is not satiric, but contains elements of satire as an aside
(Jane Austen's novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice)
 a certain character or situation
 an interpolated passage
 an ironic commentary on some aspect of the human condition or of contemporary society
Satirical Genres
Formal (Direct) Satire: This is a work which addresses the audience directly. The satiric persona - the speaker in the literary work - speaks out in the first person. This "I" may address either the reader or a character within the work itself, who is called the adversarius and whose major artistic function is to elicit and add credibility to the satiric speaker's comments.
Indirect Satire: This satire is cast in some other literary form than that of direct address to the reader.
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Often a fictional narrative, in which the objects of the satire are characters who make themselves and their opinions ridiculous or obnoxious by what they think, say, and do, and are sometimes made even more ridiculous by the author's comments and narrative style.

Types of Satire
Horatian Satire: tends to be lighter, gentler, less serious in tone. The persona (if there is one present)manifests the character of an urbane, witty, and tolerant man of the world, who is moved more often to wry amusement than indignation at the spectacle of human folly, pretentiousness, or hypocrisy.
Juvenalian satire: tends to be more serious, even harsh and bitter, in tone. The persona (if there is one present) is that of a serious moralist who uses a dignified and public style of utterance to decry kinds of vice and error that, while ridiculous, are usually more serious or dangerous. Instead of amusement, In this type of satire the speaker attempts to evoke from readers contempt, moral indignation, or unillusioned sadness at the aberrations of humanity.
Satirical Devices
Burlesque: creates a ridiculous disparity between the matter and the manner in one of two ways
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Treating a ridiculous subject (the matter) in a serious, highly-toned way (the manner). o An example might be a CNN-style breaking news report focusing on a toddler’s dislike of broccoli.
 Treating a serious subject (matter) in a ridiculous way (manner). o An example might be a festive song-and-dance number about the Spanish Inquisition.
Irony: the artist deflects the audience’s expectations in some manner. There are three specific types:
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Dramatic Irony: when the audience knows more than a character
 Situational Irony: when what happens is different from the audience’s expectations
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Verbal Irony: when a character or writer says something different than when he or she truly means
Analyzing Satire
Consider and address these five questions:
1.
What is the writer satirizing (the butt)?
2.
What type of satire is this?
3.
What's the tone of the satire?
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(grim, cheerful, sardonic, mock serious, optimistic, etc.)
4.
What is the writer's purpose in satirizing this subject?
5.
What literary techniques and devices does the writer use in this satire?
 (hyperbole, understatement, irony, humor, burlesque, tone, mood, etc.)