"A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind" is a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

by the English

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

poet

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodie ...

Interpretation

"A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind" addresses the question of the proper use of

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

, and is generally assumed to be a

Hobbesian Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influen ...

critique of

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

. The narrator subordinates reason to sense. It is based to some extent on Boileau's version of

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

's eighth or fifteenth satire, and is also indebted to Hobbes,

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into E ...

and

Epicurus Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced ...

, as well as the general

libertine A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...

tradition. Confusion has arisen in its interpretation as it is ambiguous as to whether the speaker is Rochester himself, or a satirised persona. It criticises the vanities and corruptions of the statesmen and politicians of the court of Charles II.

Reception

The poem is generally supposed to have been written before June 1674, which is the dating of the earliest surviving manuscript. Along with ''A Ramble in St. James's Park'', it is one of Rochester's best known works, and his most influential during his lifetime. It exists in some 52 manuscripts, more than any other work by the author. It resulted in four direct poetic responses;

Edward Pococke Edward Pococke (baptised 8 November 160410 September 1691) was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar. Early life The son of Edward Pococke (died 1636), vicar of Chieveley in Berkshire, he was brought up at Chieveley and educated from a y ...

's ''An Answer to the Satyr against Mankind'', Thomas Lessey's ''A Satyr In Answer to the Satyr against Man'', and the two anonymous responses ''An answer to a Satyr gainstReason & Mankind'' and ''An Answer to the Satyr, Against Man''. It is alluded to in

John Crowne John Crowne (6 April 1641 – 1712) was a British dramatist. His father "Colonel" William Crowne, accompanied the earl of Arundel on a diplomatic mission to Vienna in 1637, and wrote an account of his journey. He emigrated to Nova Scotia where h ...

's 1676 play ''

The Country Wit ''The Country Wit'' is a 1676 comedy play by the English writer John Crowne, part of the tradition of Restoration Comedy. It was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London by the Duke's Company. The cast included Samuel Sandford as Sir ...

''. It has been argued that

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

addressed the poem in ''

Religio Laici ''Religio Laici, Or A Layman's Faith'' (1682) is a poem written in heroic couplets by John Dryden. It was written in response to the publication of an English translation of the ''Histoire critique due vieux testament'' by the French cleric Fath ...

''.

References

External links

* Full text at

Project Gutenburg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

* Edited and annotated by Jack Lynch {{DEFAULTSORT:Satyr Against Reason and Mankind, A 1670s poems Early Modern English poems English poems Satirical works