TYPES OF SATIRE

The word satire comes from the Latin satura meaning a dish filled with mixed fruits. This was the usual dessert tray after a banquet, and an early meaning for the word was “to be well fed” as seen in such cognates as sated, saturated, and satisfied.

Gentle and humorous satire is called “Horatian Satire” after the writing style of the Roman poet Horace (65 BC-8 BC). Heavy or biting satire called “Juvenalian Satire” after the Roman poet Juvenal (55-127 AD).

Satire can be divided into two basic types: informal and indirect, as in stories, poems, plays, or novels; and explicit or formal, in which the satirist speaks directly to readers or listeners. Because explicit satire is more efficient, it is the kind most likely to be presented by comedians.

Because of the extensive accumulation of details in Gulliver’s Travels and because Swift is trying to influence mental attitudes as much as actual change, some critics identify Swift’s Gulliver’s Travelsas an example of Menippean satire, named after the Greek cynic Menippus.

Satirists may use their humor to inspire reform and change, or they may use it to promote the status quo. If the creators of satire don’t have a reform or a solution in mind but are simply holding up an aspect of the world as ridiculous, then they are creating irony or gallows humor rather than satire.

Satire has a specific target, is a form of criticism, and wants society to change in some way, while Gallows Humor says, "We're all in this together, and none of us will get out of it alive."

“AI can make you laugh. But can it ever be truly humorous?”

by Jyoti Madhusoolanan”

https://undark.org/2025/07/21/ai-humor/

“Can AI essay writers understand satire, irony, or sarcasm in essays?”

by Daniel Felix

https://www.yomu.ai/resources/can-ai-essay-writers-understand-satire-irony-or-sarcasm-in-essays

International Society for Humor Studies: http://www.humorstudies.org/

Nilsen, Alleen and Don. The Language of Humor: An Introduction. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2019. www.cambridge.org/core/books/language-of-humor/B37E80D6A21DB3A2E344A4061D996D9C