Butler, Samuel (1613-1680), was an English poet and satirist. He is best known for his long verse mock romance, Hudibras (part I, 1663; part II, 1664; part III, 1678). Butler based the work on Don Quixote, a satiric novel written by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. The characters in Hudibras include familiar figures of Butler’s day as well as historical figures. Butler especially ridiculed the hypocrisy and intolerance he saw among Puritan religious groups. But the poem is also more broadly concerned with human nature and human failings. Butler’s other important writings were collected in The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose (published in 1759, after the author’s death). The collection includes a set of satires called “Characters” and another satire called “The Elephant in the Moon.”
Butler was born on a farm in Worcestershire. Little is known about Butler before he gained fame with the publication of Hudibras. He died on Sept. 25, 1680.
