영국 사회와 궁정에 대한 풍자: 존 던의 『풍자시』 읽기

Abstract

Donne’s Satires, which satirize contemporary London of its follies and vices and attack the Elizabethan court, have received little attention and been underestimated. Only “Satire 3” has properly been appreciated from the critics. His satires are the first formal satires written in English. Although he owes to the tradition of Roman satiric writers, such as Horace and Juvenal, Donne does not simply imitate his predecessors, but modifies the tradition of Roman satire, developing a unique style of his. The Satires are said to have been written probably over the period 1593 to 1598. In Donne’s time, satire was not a respectable mode of writing and even dangerous if it circulated outside the circle of friends, which might get him into serious trouble. In one of his letters to his friend, he wrote he felt some fear because of his satires, and shame because of his elegies. He had the free spirit of the young intellectual, but felt the distrustfulness by late Elizabethan society and its court and law. Donne’s five satires written in his early twenties are all concerned with presenting an idealistic defense of spiritual values against the encroachment of sixteenth-century materialism. He bitterly criticizes materialism of his time and the vanity and corruption of the court. The satires mock the fashionable excesses of Elizabethan costumes, hyperbole in romantic poetry, courtly flattery and corruption of lawyers and law enforcement officials. Of Donne’s five satires, “Satire 1” is closely related to “Satire 4”, and “Satire 2” to “Satire 5”. The theme, touched on lightly in “Satire 1”, is developed in greater detail in the more sombre “Satire 4”. That is, “Satire 4” articulates openly what “Satire 1” only suggests. Donne’s courtier possesses characteristics of the most hated and feared members of Elizabethan society. His rejection of the Court can be read not only in satires and verse letters but also in the lyrics.