Horace Satire 1.4 Questions and Answers Download PDF
Horace : Satire (Satire 1.4)
1. Write a note on Horace.
Horace was born somewhere in Venusia in South East of Italy in 65 B.C. He was the son of a freedman and had his early education in Rome under the famous flagging school-master Orbillius Pupillus (a grammarian), and later he proceeded to Athens to study Philosophy where he encountered the Greek poets who profoundly influenced his work.
When Brutus ascended the Roman throne, he offered Horace a command in the Republican Army. He fought in the battle of Philippi, on the losing side of Brutus and Cassius. Later his Italian Estate was confiscated by the then Government formed by Octavian Caesar and Antony. However, with the help of his friend Virgil, he came to receive the patronage of the Government that conferred a number of benefits on him including a fine estate near Tiboli. Eventually, he could make warm friendship with the Monarch and addressed several of his finest poems to him to show his admiration for him. Horace died in 8 B.C.
Horace was one of the celebrated authors of ancient Roman literature. He was particularly famous for his Ars Poetica (On the Art of Poetry). He was also the author of a number of epistles, such as The Epistle to Julius Florus, The Epistle of Augustus.
Horace is particularly known and remains famous for his critical writing on the art of poetry, where his position is very close to the great Greek authority, Aristotle.
2. Can you say when did Horace die?
Horace, the celebrated Roman writer, died in 8 B.C.
3. What are the important works of Horace?
Some of the important works of Horace are
Satires 1 (c. 35-34 B.C.) Satires 2 (c. 30 B.C.) Epodes (30 B.C.) Odes 1-3 (c. 23 B.C.) Epistles 1 (c. 21 B.C.) Carmen Saeculare (17 B.C.) Epistles 2 (c. 11 B.C.) Odes 4 (c. 11 B.C.) Ars Poetica (c. 10–8 B.C.)
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4. What is the meaning of ‘Satire’?
Satire, in general, means a literary composition in prose or verse, the function of which is to expose the vices or follies of some person or persons or systems. The purpose here, of course, is to ridicule or banter the person or persons concerned for the process involved. But strictly speaking, satire originally meant a poem aiming at the expose of the prevalent vices or follies of some society or a section of the society. The objective of satire is, no doubt, critical, to prove one ludicrous, ridiculous or despicable.
A good satire, in the language of Dryden, has a clinical and curative effect. In his language, “The true end of satire is the amendment of the vices by correction; and he who writes honestly is no more an enemy to the offender than the physician to the patient as he prescribes harsh remedies to an inveterate disease.”
In other words, ‘satire’is a congregation of sharp wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly existing in a social condition. Indeed, it is the job of the satirist to exaggerate and illuminate these hidden facts and to make them easier to see and deal with.
5. From where did the Satire actually originate?
The word ‘satire’ comes from the Latin word satur and the subsequent phrase lanx satura. Satur meant “full” but the connection with lanx shifted the meaning to “miscellany or medley”. The word satura, as used now, was used to denote only Roman verse satires-a strict genre that imposed hexameter form. Satire is a kind of hexameter verses, a literary genre of wholly Roman origin.
Satire is found to have originated in Roman Literature. It is claimed that the only literary form, invented by the Roman, is the satire. Of course, such a contention may not be very accurate. There has been the clear indication that the Greek writers, particularly the comic dramatists, indulged in the composition of that, which now may well go in the name of satire. There is sufficient evidence in the early Greek dramatic literature to testify to the contention that in the early Greek drama the element of satire is not found absent. A fine blending of satire and poetry characterises the mighty comic works of Aristophanes.
6. Who was the inventor of Satire as a characteristic literary form?
The inventor of ‘satire’ as a characteristic poetic form was Casius Lucilius. Satire, as a particular form of literature and a potent influence on the later European writers, is mainly a creation of Latin masters. He was followed by a more brilliant figure, Horace. Horace wrote several realistic, humorous and satirical poems, in which he investigated and castigated social abuses.
7. What is the basic difference between a Satire and a Comedy?
The difference between the description of Satire and that of Comedy is that while Comedy gives the impression of people acting autonomously, Satire approaches its characters subjectively, presenting an interpretation of the spectacle of life, mediated through an individual human consciousness.
Comedy is a dramatic work that is humorous and light. Comedy can be classified as High comedy and Low comedy; Low Comedy has no other purpose than creating laughter whereas High Comedy has the goal of social criticism. Satire falls into the category of High Comedy, but the goal of satire is to expose and criticize the follies and vices in the society.
Satire is often created by using wit, irony, euphemism, exaggeration and understatement whereas Comedy is a performance of light and humourous characters that culminates with a cheerful and happy ending
8. In what sense is the Satire 1:4 personal?
In the Satire 1.4 Horace has portrayed himself and his father as characters from Comedy. The Terentian reference throws an ironic light on the whole and prevents readers from reading it simply as a piece of Autobiography. There is, in fact, a significant overlapping between the dramatis personae of satire and that of comedy and the ethical-rhetorical tradition. This is the sense in which Horace’s satire is ‘personal’ poetry, not so much ‘autobiographical’ as venturing into that kind of moral philosophy spoken of by Plato as conversation of the soul with itself’.
9. Whom does Horace intend to satirise or criticise in his Satire 1:4?
When analysed, the question that arouses first is who is being criticized here in Horace’s Satire 1:4. While reading through the verses it is felt that Lucilius and other satirists are being attacked by Horace. Also, he criticizes those who wish to censor him and believe he is malicious.
Immediately that strikes is the question of the Vice for which the poet is criticized. The satirists claim to be poets and Horace disagrees on the question of merit. Those people who wish to censor his work because they are somehow convinced that it contains some kind of hatred that can never be appreciated, are criticized by Horace.
Horace believes that it is very unpleasant and absolutely disagreeable that his work is not as respected as it should be. Comical notes step in here and there, but it is not a holistically presented theme in the piece and there is much irony as well. Those who are disagreeable to his stylization, his thought, his ideology have been criticised by Horace throughout his lines of Satire.
10. How does Horace appreciate his father in Satire 1:4?
The freedman father who so famously raised his son, by hand as it were, bears a very subtle relation with Horace.
The style of attributing the concern of his father for him is extremely elegant and can be referred to as more than a piece of simple autobiography. It also depicts Horace’s generosity in acknowledging his debts to others and allows him to continue his ‘game of self-effacement’ while appreciating others.
Horace appears to subordinate art to life, extracting the causes of his persona and his poetry from his father’s training and social status, the eventual outcome of works in reverse, and turns the poet’s life subordinate to his art.
It is important to mention that Satires 1:4 and 1:6 have the well-known admission of Horace’s upbringing by his father, told in the context of his relation to Lucilius, his satiric morale, and to Maecenas, the man conventionally known to be as Horace’s patron.
Let us not forget the beautiful quote from the piece – “If something I say is too outspoken, perhaps too calculated to raise a laugh,
You’ll be forgiving and grant me this measure of justification: My excellent father taught me the habit,
By marking out the various vices by examples,
So that I should steer clear of them.”
Horace here gives out something of his own self and art as well as in particular, of his own father, whom he had admired much.
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Horace Satire 1.4 Questions and Answers Download PDF Horace Satire 1.4 Questions and Answers Download PDF Horace Satire 1.4 Questions and Answers Download PDF Horace Satire 1.4 Questions and Answers Download PDF