Satire is the use of wit to attack human conduct or institutions. Most satire appears in literature, but satire also plays a part in most other art forms. Satirists usually aim to expose and even reform such human failings as folly, greed, or vanity. They do so by ridicule in such forms as irony, sarcasm, parody, or burlesque.
The art of satire was perfected by two ancient Roman writers, Horace and Juvenal. The gentle mockery of Horace and the angry savagery of Juvenal have come to represent two of the main tones of satire—Horatian (mild) and Juvenalian (bitter).
There are two types of satire. Direct satire, sometimes called formal satire, is a statement in the voice of one person speaking directly to the reader or to another character in the satire. A famous example is A Modest Proposal (1729) by the English author Jonathan Swift, which satirized the harshness and indifference that the author saw in England’s rule of Ireland. Indirect satire is a story whose characters, settings, and ideas are the targets of ridicule. A classic example of indirect satire is Candide (1759) by the French author Voltaire.
Satire appears in all national literatures. The comedies of Aristophanes satirize Greek society of the 400’s B.C. François Rabelais’s series “Gargantua and Pantagruel” (1532-1564) ridicules French political, religious, and social institutions of the 1500’s. Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen’s Simplicissimus (1668) does the same for Germany in the 1600’s. Nikolai Gogol poked fun at Russians of the early and middle 1800’s in his novels and plays. Mark Twain’s books mocked Americans in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. H. L. Mencken wrote essays ridiculing American politics, society, and language in the early 1900’s.
A great period of satire occurred during the late 1600’s and early 1700’s in English literature. Most of the important writers of this period wrote brilliant satiric works. For example, Alexander Pope’s The Dunciad (1728-1743) bitterly attacks the deterioration of culture, especially by bad literature and education. Perhaps the greatest work of satire in English is Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). It was adapted into a children’s story, but Swift meant to satirize human pride in silly politics, foolish science, and absurd moral customs. 
Leading satirists among artists include William Hogarth of England and Honoré Daumier of France. Preston Sturges of the United States directed many satirical movies. The American cartoonists Al Capp, Jules Feiffer, Walt Kelly, and Garry Trudeau became famous for their satire on American life.
In the mid-1900’s, black humor largely replaced traditional satire. Black humor criticizes human behavior but, unlike satire, offers no hope for reform.
