UNIVERSITY of DETROIT EXCERP T from the GRADUATE BULLETIN, 1935· 1937 Page Nine ... I Use of Theses and Thesis Materials. The University of Detr oit alw ays encourages, and even urges, the use of theses, thesis materials, and term papers submitted to instructors or departments of the University in in partial fulfillment of th e requirements for credit or degrees. Such use may be oral (before meetings or conv entions) or through publication (period­ icals, monographs, or books.) However, as suc h theses, thesis materials, and term papers become the property of the University once they are sub­ mitted, --- it is expected that the permission of the University be secured for such oral or printed use, and a suitable credit line arranged, T his perrnis­ sion, and arrangement of credit line, should also be observed in the case of the publication of materials which the student intends to use later in partial fullfillment of the requirements for credi t or degrees, Failure to observe such courtesy may be followed by the w it hdrawal of the credit or degree. Application for the use of ma terials and arrangements mentioned must be made with the Graduate Office of the University of De troit. THE UNI VERSI TY OF DETROIT DRYDEN AS A POLI TICAL SATIRIST I N AESALOVI AND ACHIT OPHEL A THESIS SUBMI TTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY I N PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUI REMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLI SH BY SISTER MARY BONAVENTURE BIROS, O. P. DETROIT, rnCHIGAN OCTOBER, 1948 ii ACKNO\VLEDGE1ffiNT The writer is deeply gr a t ef ul to Mr . J oseph A. Luyc kx for suggesting the subject, to Reverend Burke O' Neill, S.J. for approving it, and to Reverend James P. Caine, S .J. for the kind guidance gi ven in the development of t his t hesis. i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENT ·. .... .. .. .. .. ii Chapter I. I NTRODUCTI ON . .. 1 II. DRYDEN' S CAST OF MI ND. .... .. .. 8 III. POL IT ICAL BACKGROU ND OF ABSALO M AND ACHI TO.P HEL • • ••••••• • .. 16 IV. ANALYSI S OF ABSALO M AND ACHITO PHEL 30 v. CONCLUSION · . .. 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY •• ·. .. ........ 71 CHAPTER I I NTRODUCTION Satire and t he satirists have been in evidence in a ll ages of the world's his t ory.Sa t i r e has always ranked as one of the cardinal divisions of l i t er a t ur e, and it has been distinctly cultivated by men of genius . This was especially true i n t h e seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the classics wer e esteemed on authority as models . Thi s type of wr iti ng may have h istorical as well as literary and eth ical values . Smeat on says : "Th e satiric denunciation of a wr iter bur ni ng with indi gnation at some social wrong I. or abuse, is capable of reaching the very highest level of literatur e . "1 John Dryden's satires fit i nto this category . His Absalom and Achitophel is the gr eat es t p ol i t i cal satire in our literature, and the rest of his satires are very highly es t eemed. Dryden has justly been regarded as England's greatest satirist, and the epoch of Dryden has been fittingly styled the "Gol den Age of the English Sat i r e. "2 It is the ob j ect of this thesis to exhibit his contribu- tion t o t h e ~ati ri c Domai n" by considering the meaning of s at i r e, Dryden's interpretation of satire, the special quali­ ties which distinguish Dryden's satiric spirit, and the modi - 1. Oliphant Smeat on, English Satire, p . xiii . 2. ~., p , xxxiii. 2 fications of that spirit as they are shown in his political sat i r e , Absalom and Achitophel. The absence of any established criteria as a basis for the study of satire is a difficulty which mus t be recognized and met at the very out s et . This paper do es not attempt, by any means, to fill t his gap . For PIDfessor Tucker3 and Professor Alden4 have quite satisfactorily s ucceede d i n estab­ lishing criteria or terminology that might s erve for the treat­ ment of satire as a genr e . An effort is ma de t o def i ne satire only in gener a l terms as an introduction and as an aid t o t he reader. Any study of s atirical poetry in Eng l and is r endered difficult by a confusion of terms. If we look i nto --A New English Di ct i onar y, we wi ll not e t ha t satire c omes f rom the Lat i n word "satira,later f or m of satura" meaning a medley. As a specific application of sat ura (medley), sat ire was "in ear l y use a discursive c omposition in ve rse t r ea t ing of a variety of sub jects, in classical use a poem in which preva­ lent follies or vices are assailed with r i di cul e or with serious denunciation." Dr. Johns on 's Dictionary gi ves the following definition: "Satire (Lat . sat ira) Poem of a mor al character (as such opposed to lampoon), wher ein vi c e or folly is either ridiculed, or censured with i r ony. " These defini- 3. Samuel Tuc ker, Ver s e Satire in England before t he Rena issance. -- 4. Raymond M. Alden, The Rise of Formal Satire in England under Classical Innuence.- - 3 t i on s g i ve us a gen e r a l idea of t he t erm. but to understand satire a more d eta i l ed clarifica tion wi l l prove h e l pfu l . Professor 'r u ck e r g i ves u s quite an ade quate e xp lanation wh en he s ays t hat t h e c onfusion of t erms lie s in the r e a lly triple meaning of the wor d s a tire . liAs gi ve n in the diction- ary, ~i re , in one sense , is a n abstract t erm cogn ant with , ridicule ; as when we say, Sat i r e has a ccomplis hed r evo l u - t ions .' A second me a n i ng refers to a lit era r y f orm t h at h a s f o r i ts o bject de structive cri t i c ism, as when we s a y •••• 11 5 ia c Fl e cknoe is a Sat ire on Sha dwe l l . I n this double mea ni ng t h e r e i s no co nfu sio n , for a dis- , tinction i s simp l i f i e d by the mere u se o f a capit al l ett er ll when the wor d II s a t i r e is used t o deno t e a l i t e r a r y for m. Bu t , unf ortunately , a do u bl e meai i n g lurks in t he first and mo r e a b s t rac t s i gn i fica t i on of t h e word •••• Here t wo t hin g s are confused : t h e satirical spirit, a n i n t angible, a bstract some thin g t h at underlies a n d inspi re s wha t we commonly c all satire- -or ridicul e - -or invec t ive ; a n d s atire i t s e l f , which is me rel y t h e concr e t e ~ a n if e s t a t i o n of t h e satiric s pirit i n l i t e r ature . b Clarification o f t e r ms would i n vol v e a long d iscussion a n d many i llustrations , bu t f or our purpose i t is suf fic i en t t o bear in mi n d that •••• t h e t e rm satirical s pirit a l ways ref e r s to a po i n t of view; t he wo r d satire to a c o ncrete but g en er a l embod i men t o f t hat Do i n t of v i ew i n l iter a ­ t u re ; a nd t he Sa t i r e (ca pit~ lized) t o the l ite rary form o r t h e ge nr e , as well as to an y par t i cu lar e xample of t he g e nr e . 7 5. Tu cker , £E. £11 ., p . 3. 6. I bid . 7. Ibid. 4 Thus, we may say, the satirical spirit is enthusiastic; Dryden's satire is directed against the Wh i gs ; Dryden made a great contritution to the Satire; Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel is a Satire of great importance. Wor ce s ter defines formal satire as: •••• a poern of short or middling length, designed to express the author's disapprobation of political, social, or personal actions, condition or qualities written in heroic couplet, in real or fancied imitation of one or mor e of the Roman satirists; its prevailing tone may be one gf gross invective, satiric invective, or burlesque •••• Dryden, on the other hand, in his Es s ay 2£ Sa t i r e qu ot es with approval Heinsius's definition of satire, and evidently means formal satire.