satire

Introduction
The nature of satire
- Historical definitions
- Influence of Horace and Juvenal
- Structure of verse satire
- The satiric spirit
Satirical media
- Literature
- Drama
- Motion pictures and television
- Visual arts
The satirist, the law, and society

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Take a look at George Bernard Shaw speaking on the marvels of Movietone

Satirical drawing by Max Beerbohm showing caricatures of Winston Churchill and H.G. Wells in caps and sweaters, facing each other and arguing with fists and pointed fingers.

Horace, bronze medal, 4th century; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

At a Glance

satire summary

Related Questions

How can allegory help a writer criticize society indirectly?
How can censorship lead satirists to use irony, parody, and burlesque?
How did Aristophanes use comedy to criticize Athenian politics and society?
How did Bertolt Brecht use drama to criticize social injustice?
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How did Horace’s style of satire differ from Lucilius’s style?
How did Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show use news-style comedy for social satire?
How did Juvenal’s style of satire differ from Horace’s style?
How did Molière satirize religious hypocrisy in Tartuffe?
How did Osip Mandelshtam’s epigram about Joseph Stalin lead to conflict with the Soviet state?
How did Voltaire’s conflicts with authorities shape his satirical writing?
How did political cartoons use captions and caricature to criticize leaders and events?
How does Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World use a dystopian society as satire?
How does Dr. Strangelove use comedy to criticize military and political leaders?
How does Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 use farce to criticize war and bureaucracy?
How does Menippean satire mix prose and verse?
How does a frame conversation between a satirist and an adversary organize a verse satire?
How does a satirist use caricature to criticize a person or society?
How does direct satire address its audience?
How does indirect satire communicate criticism through a story?
How does satire use humor to criticize human vice, foolishness, and abuse?
How does understatement work in satirical writing?
How is satire different from irony?
How is satire different from parody?
What are the thesis and antithesis parts of a Roman verse satire?
What subjects did Juvenal criticize in his 16 Satires about Roman life?
Which Shakespeare plays contain especially dark satirical elements?
Which famous phrases from Juvenal’s satires entered common use?
Which literary devices are commonly used in satire?
Why did Charlie Chaplin later say he could not have made The Great Dictator if he had known about the concentration camps?
Why did Horace and Juvenal avoid directly attacking powerful people who were still alive?
Why did Quintilian describe satire as a Roman literary form?
Why did That Was the Week That Was face political and commercial pressures on television?
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Why have political cartoonists often faced censorship during periods of social tension?
Why have writers used animal societies in satirical stories?
Why is Gulliver’s Travels considered an example of Juvenalian satire?
Why is Horatian satire considered milder than Juvenalian satire?
How did The Outsiders contribute to young adult (YA) literature?
Why is the novel Onyx Storm significant?
How does poetry differ from prose?
Do adults read children’s literature?
What is a novel?
What is the difference between a novel and a book?
What is the difference between a novel and fiction?

Literature Novels & Short Stories

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External Websites

Dallas Baptist University - Characteristics of Satire
ABC listen - The Minefield - Is Satire an Ethical Form of Speech?
BBC News - A Point of View: What's the point of satire?
Oregon State University - College of Liberal Arts - What is Satire? || Definition & Examples
University of Chichester`s Open Access Repository - British Satire, Everyday Politics: Chris Morris, Armando Lannucci, Charlie Brooker (PDF)
The Victorian Web - Satire
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction - Satire
K12 LibreTexts - Satire
Bryant Digital Repository - Satire and Dissent: A Theoretical Overview (PDF)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

satire - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

satire

artistic form

Written by

Robert C. Elliott

Professor of English Literature, University of California, San Diego, at La Jolla, 1964–81. Author of The Power of Satire; The Shape of Utopia.

Robert C. Elliott

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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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Last updated

Sep. 24, 2026 •History

satire, artistic form, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to inspire social reform. Satire is a protean term. Together with its derivatives, it is one of the most heavily worked literary designations and one of the most imprecise. The great English lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined satire...

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