Satire in Restoration Literature
The Restoration writers couldn't get enough satire. What's the deal with satire? Satire is when we joke or exaggerate in order to point up someone else's flaws. Think John Oliver's Last Week Tonight. Think The Onion. Think generally snarky hilarity.
The Restoration writers developed satire as a genre and a style of writing. These authors loved picking on people—literary rivals, religious figures, even entire social classes—and showing just how ridiculous they all were. Restoration writers mastered the art of poking fun at people.
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John Dryden's Mac Flecknoe is a classic satire. It also helped popularize "mock heroic" poetry.
Samuel Butler pokes fun at Puritans in his satirical poem Hudibras.