GULLIVER'S TRAVELS - excerpts

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
BOOK I CHAPTER 3 : Diversions
I was diverted with none so much as that of the Rope-Dancers, performed upon a slender white Thread, extended about two Foot and twelve Inches from the Ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the Reader's Patience, to enlarge a little.
This Diversion is only practiced by those Persons who are Candidates for great Employments, and high Favour, at Court. They are trained in this Art from their Youth, and are not always of noble Birth, or liberal Education. When a great Office is vacant either by Death or disgrace (which often happens) five or six of those Candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the Court with a Dance on the Rope, and whoever jumps the highest without falling, succeeds in the Office. Very often the Chief Ministers themselves are commanded to show their Skill, and to convince the Emperor that they have not lost their Faculty. Flimnap, the Treasurer, is allowed to cut a Caper on the strait Rope, at least an Inch higher than any other Lord in the whole Empire. I have seen him do the Summerset several times together upon a Trencher fixed on the Rope, which is no thicker than a common packthread in England. My friend Reldresal, principal Secretary for private Affairs, is, in my Opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the Treasurer; the rest of the great Officers are much upon a par.
These Diversions are often attended with fatal Accidents, whereof great Numbers are on Record. I my self have seen two or three Candidates break a Limb. But the Danger is much greater when the Ministers themselves are commanded to shew their Dexterity; for by contending to excel themselves and their Fellows, they strain so far, that there is hardly one of them who has not received a Fall, and some of them two or three. I was assured that a Year or two before my Arrival, Flimnap would have infallibly broken his Neck, if one of the King's Cushions, that accidentally lay on the Ground, had not weakened the Force of his Fall.
There is likewise another Diversion, which is only shewn before the Emperor and Empress, and first Minister, upon particular Occasions. The Emperor lays on the Table three fine silken Threads of six Inches long. One is Blue, the other Red, and the third Green *. These Threads are proposed as Prizes for those Persons whom the Emperor has a mind to distinguish by a peculiar Mark of his Favor. The Ceremony is performed in his Majesty's great Chamber of State, where the Candidates are to undergo a Tryal of Dexterity very different from the former, and such as I have not observed the least Resemblance of in any other Country of the old or the new World. The Emperor holds a Stick in his Hands, both ends parallel to the Horizon, while the Candidates, advancing one by one, sometimes leap over the Stick, sometimes creep under it backwards and forwards several times, according as the Stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of the Stick, and his first Minister the other; sometimes the Minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his Part with most Agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the Blue-colored Silk; the Red is given to the next, and the Green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great Persons about this Court who are not adorned with one of these Girdles.

GLOSSARY: summerset = somersault = summersault = премятане през глава, салтомортале
trencher — дъска /за хляб/; копаня /ост./
packthread — връв, канап
be on a par with — равен на, сравним със, на равна нога със
dexterity — сръчност, ловкост
dexterous — сръчен, ловък
agility — подвижност, бързина, ловкост
agile — подвижен, жив, ловък
girt = p.t of gird — опасвам, препасвам
girdle — пояс, препаска
contend — състезавам се
adorn - украсявам


BOOK I CHAPTER IV
our Histories of six thousand Moons make no mention of any other Regions, than the two great Empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty Powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate War for six and thirty Moons past. It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all Hands, that the primitive way of breaking Eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger End: But his present Majesty's Grand-father, while he was a Boy, going to eat an Egg, and breaking it according to the ancient Practice, happened to cut one of his Fingers. Whereupon the Emperor his Father published an Edict, commanding all his Subjects, upon great Penaltys, to break the smaller End of their Eggs. The People so highly resented this Law, that our Histories tell us there have been six Rebellions raised on that account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and another his Crown. These civil Commotions were constantly fomented by the Monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the Exiles always fled for Refuge to that Empire. It is computed, that eleven thousand Persons have, at several times, suffered Death, rather than submit to break their Eggs at the smaller End. Many hundred large Volumes have been published upon this Controversy,
GLOSSARY: obstinate -= stubborn — упорит, инат
on all hands/on every hand — от всички страни
edict — едикт, указ
resent = hate
on that account — поради тази причина
commotion — безредици, размирици, бунт; смут, вълнение
to foment — подбуждам, подстрекавам, подклаждам /към бунт, безредици/
to quell — потушавам, смазвам /бунт, въстание и пр./
exile — изгнаник, в изгнание
compute - изчислявам

BOOK II CHAPTER 6
He was perfectly astonished with the historical Account I gave him of our Affairs during the last Century, protesting it was only a Heap of Conspiracies, Rebellions, Murders, Massacres, Revolutions, Banishments, the very worst Effects that Avarice, Faction, Hypocrisy, Perfidiousness, Cruelty, Rage, Madness, Hatred, Envy, Lust, Malice, or Ambition could produce.
My little Friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable Panegyric upon your Country: You have clearly proved that Ignorance, Idleness, and Vice may be sometimes the only Ingredients for qualifying a Legislator: That Laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied by those whose Interest and Abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them. I observe among you some Lines of an Institution, which in its Original might have been tolerable, but these half erazed, and the rest wholly blurred and blotted by Corruptions. It doth not appear from all you have said, how any one Virtue is required towards the Procurement of any one Station among you, much less that Men are ennobled on Account of their Virtue, that Priests are advanced for their Piety or Learning, Soldiers for their Conduct or Valour, Judges for their Integrity, Senators for the Love of their Country, or Counsellors for their Wisdom. As for yourself, (continued the King,) who have spent the greatest Part of your Life in Travelling, I am well disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped many Vices of your Country. But by what I have gathered from your own Relation, and the Answers I have with much Pain wringed and extorted from you, I cannot but conclude the Bulk of your Natives to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.
GLOSSARY: avarice — скъперничество, алчност, сребролюбие
avaricious
perfidious — коварен, вероломен, предателски
perfidy — коварство, вероломство, измама
panegyric — панегирик, славословие, възхвала
confound — обърквам, разстройвам/планове/
blur — зацапвам
blot — петня, очерням, опетнявам
valour — храброст, доблест
valiant — храбър, безстрашен
integrity - 1.честност, почтеност; 2.цялостност
piety — набожност, благочестивост; pious — благочестив, набожен
wring - изтръгвам
extort - изтръгвам
pernicious — гибелен, зловреден; pernicious anemia — злокачествена анемия
vermin — вредни насекоми; сган, паплач

BOOK III Chapter V
The first Man I saw was of a meager Aspect, with sooty Hands and Face, his Hair and Beard long, ragged and singed in several Places. His Cloathes, Shirt, and Skin were all of the same Colour. He had been Eight Years upon a Project for extracting Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers, which were to be put into Vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the Air in raw inclement Summers.
I went into another Chamber, but was ready to hasten back, being almost overcome with a horrible Stink. The Projector of this Cell was the most ancient Student of the Academy. His Employment from his first coming into the Academy, was an Operation to reduce human Excrement to its original Food,
I saw another at work to calcine Ice into Gunpowder; who likewise shewed me a Treatise he had written concerning the Malleability of Fire, which he intended to publish.
There was a most ingenious Architect who had contrived a new Method for building Houses, by beginning at the Roof, and working downwards to the Foundation; which he justified to me by the like Practice of those two prudent Insects, the Bee and the Spider.
There was a Man born blind, who had several Apprentices in his own Condition: Their Employment was to mix Colours for Painters, which their Master taught them to distinguish by feeling and smelling. It was indeed my Misfortune to find them at that Time not very perfect in their Lessons; and the Professor himself happened to be generally mistaken: This Artist is much encouraged and esteemed by the whole Fraternity.
In another Apartment I was highly pleased with a Projector, who had found a Device of plowing the Ground with Hogs, to save the Charges of Plows, Cattle, and Labour. The Method in this: In an Acre of Ground you bury at six Inches Distance, and eight deep, a Quantity of Acorns, Dates, Chestnuts, and other Maste or Vegetables whereof these Animals are fondest; then you drive six Hundred or more of them into the Field, where in a few Days they will root up the whole Ground in search of their Food, and make it fit for sowing, at the same time manuring it with their Dung. It is true, upon Experiment they found the Charge and Trouble very great, and they had little or no Crop. However, it is not doubted that this Invention may be capable of great Improvement.
I went into another Room, where the Walls and Ceiling were all hung round with Cobwebs, except a narrow passage for the Artist to go in and out. At my Entrance he called aloud to me not to disturb his Webs. He lamented the fatal Mistake the World had been so long in of using Silk-Worms, while we had such plenty of domestick Insects, who infinitely excelled the Former, because they understood how to weave as well as spin. And he proposed farther, that by employing Spiders, the Charge of dying Silks should be wholly saved; whereof I was fully convinced when he shewed me a vast Number of Flies most beautifully coloured, wherewith he fed his Spiders; assuring us, that the Webs would take a Tincture from them; and as he had them of all Hues, he hoped to fit every Body's Fancy, as soon as he could find proper Food for the Flies, of certain Gums, Oyls, and other glutinous Matter to give a Strength and Consistence to the Threads.
There was an Astronomer who had undertaken to place a Sun-Dial upon the great Weather-Cock on the Town-House, by adjusting the annual and diurnal Motions of the Earth and Sun, so as to answer and coincide with all accidental Turnings of the Wind.

I had hitherto seen only one side of the Academy, the other being appropriated to the Advancers of speculative Learning, of which I shall say something when I have Mentioned one illustrious Person more, who is called among them the universal Artist. He told us he had been thirty Years employing his Thoughts for the Improvement of human Life. He had two large Rooms full of wonderful Curiosities, and fifty Men at work. Some were condensing Air into a dry tangible Substance, by extracting the Nitre, and letting the Aqueous or fluid Particles percolate; others softening Marble for Pillows and Pincushions; others petrifying the Hoofs of a living Horse to preserve them from foundring. The Artist himself was at that time busy upon two great Designs; the first, to sow Land with Chaff, wherein he affirmed the true seminal Virtue to be contained, as he Demonstrated by several Experiments which I was not skilful enough to comprehend. The other was, by a certain Composition of Gums, Minerals, and Vegetables outwardly applied, to prevent the Growth of Wool upon two young Lambs; and he hoped in a reasonable Time to propagate the Breed of naked Sheep all over the Kingdom.
We crossed a Walk to the other Part of the Academy, where, as I have already said, the Projectors in speculative Learning resided.
We next went to the School of Languages, where three Professors sate in Consultation upon improving that of their own country.
The first Project was to shorten Discourse by cutting Polysyllables into one, and leaving out Verbs and Participles, because in reality all things imaginable are but Nouns.
The other, was a Scheme for entirely abolishing all Words whatsoever; and this was urged as a great Advantage in Point of Health as well as Brevity. For it is plain, that every Word we speak is in some Degree a Diminution of our Lungs by Corrosion, and consequently contributes to the shortning of our Lives. An Expedient was therefore offered, that since Words are only Names for Things, it would be more convenient for all Men to carry about them, such Things as were necessary to express the particular Business they are to discourse on. And this Invention would certainly have taken Place, to the great Ease as well as Health of the Subject, if the Women in conjunction with the Vulgar and Illiterate had not threatned to raise a Rebellion, unless they might be allowed the Liberty to speak with their Tongues, after the manner of their Ancestors; such constant irreconcilable Enemies to Science are the common People. However, many of the most Learned and Wise adhere to the New Scheme of expressing themselves by Things, which hath only this Inconvenience attending it, that if a Man's Business be very great, and of various kinds, he must be obliged in Proportion to carry a greater bundle of Things upon his Back, unless he can afford one or two strong Servants to attend him.
I was at the Mathematical School, where the Master taught his Pupils after a Method scarce imaginable to us in Europe. The Proposition and Demonstration were fairly written on a thin Wafer, with ink composed of a Cephalick Tincture. This the Student was to swallow upon a fasting Stomach, and for three Days following eat nothing but Bread and Water. As the Wafer digested, the Tincture mounted to his Brain, bearing the Proposition along with it. But the Success hath not hitherto been answerable, partly by some Error in the Quantum or Composition, and partly by the Perverseness of Lads, to whom this Bolus is so nauseous, that they generally steal aside, and discharge it upwards before it can operate, neither have they been yet persuaded to use so long an Abstinence as the Prescription required.
GLOSSARY: singed - опърлен
vial — мускал, фиала /стъклен съд за парфюми и др./
inclement - суров, студен; ост. безжалостен
calcine — калцинирам, изпичам, обезводнявам
malleable — ковък; отстъпчив, мек, податлив
malleability ковкост
acorn - жълъд
mast — жълъди и др. /като храна за свине/
manure — тор; наторявам
dung - животински /оборски/ тор; животински изпражнения
gum — клей, смола
glutinous -лепкав
to appropriate — предназначавам,
appropriated — предназначен, отделен
illustrious — знатен, виден
founder — окуцявам /за кон/
contrive — измислям, изобретявам
prudent - благоразумен
lament — оплаквам /се/
diurnal - дневен
tangible - осезаем
petrify — вкаменявам /се/, изумявам,
chaff - плява; to separate the wheat from the chaff — отделям зърното от плявата
propagate — плодя се, размножавам, въдя/се/
reside – live, inhabit
whatsoever каквото и да е
diminution изтъняване; намаляване
corrosion - разлагане
in conjunction with — заедно със, съвместно със
irreconcilable непримирим
adhere to – придържам се към
bundle – бала, вързоп,
proposition теорема, задача
demonstration доказателство
wafer – цветно кръгче, което се слага вместо
печат върху документ;лепенка; вафла; нафора
cephalic tincture – тинктура против главоболие
fast - постя
hitherto – до тук, до момента
composition – състав, набор/печатарски/
bolus – голяма таблетка
nausea – гадене, повдигане, повръщане
nauseous – гаден, от който ти се повръща
nauseate – гади ми се, повръща ми се
discharge - изхвърлям
abstinence – въздържане, пост


BOOK IV CHAPTER VII
Let me deal so candidly with the Reader, as to confess, that there was yet a much stronger Motive for the Freedom I took in my Representation of Things. I had not been a Year in this Country, before I contracted such a Love and Veneration for the Inhabitants, that I entered on a firm Resolution, never to return to human Kind, but to pass the rest of my Life among these admirable Houyhnhnms in the Contemplation and Practice of every Virtue; where I could have no Example or Incitement to Vice.
He said the Yahoos were known to hate one another more than they did any different Species of Animals; and the Reason usually assigned, was the Odiousness of their own Shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in themselves. He had therefore begun to think it not unwise in us to cover our Bodies, and by that Invention, conceal many of our own Deformities from each other, which would else be hardly supportable. But, he now found he had been mistaken, and that the Dissensions of those Brutes in his Country were owing to the same Cause with ours, as I had described them. For, if (said he) you throw among Five Yahoos as much Food as would be sufficient for Fifty, they will, instead of eating peaceably, fall together by the Ears, each single one impatient to have all to itself; and therefore a Servant was usually employed to stand by while they were feeding abroad, and those kept at home were tied at a Distance from each other: that if a Cow died of Age or Accident, before a Houyhnhnm could secure it for his own Yahoos, those in the Neighbourhood would come in Herds to seize it, and then would ensue such a Battle as I had described, with terrible Wounds made by their Claws on both Sides, although they seldom were able to kill one another, for want of such convenient Instruments of Death as we had invented. At other times the like Battles have been fought between the Yahoos of several Neighbourhoods without any visible Cause: Those of one District watching all Opportunities to surprize the next before they are prepared. But if they find their Project hath miscarried, they return home, and for want of Enemies, engage in what I call a Civil War among themselves.
That in some Fields of his Country there are certain shining Stones of several Colours, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond, and when part of these Stones is fixed in the Earth, as it sometimes happeneth, they will dig with their Claws for whole Days to get them out, then carry them away, and hide them by Heaps in their Kennels; but still looking round with great Caution, for Fear their Comrades should find out their Treasure. My Master said, he could never discover the Reason of this unnatural Appetite, or how these Stones could be of any Use to a Yahoo; but now he believed it might proceed from the same Principle of Avarice which I had ascribed to Mankind: that he had once, by way of Experiment, privately removed a Heap of these Stones from the Place where one of his Yahoos had buried it: Whereupon, the sordid Animal missing his Treasure, by his loud lamenting brought the whole Herd to the Place, there miserably howled, then fell to biting and tearing the rest, began to pine away, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor work, till he ordered a Servant privately to convey the Stones into the same Hole, and hide them as before; which when his Yahoo had found, he presently recovered his Spirits and good Humour, but took good Care to remove them to a better hiding-place, and hath ever since been a very serviceable Brute.
My Master farther assured me, which I also observed myself, that in the Fields where the shining Stones abound, the fiercest and most frequent Battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighbouring Yahoos.
My Master, continuing his Discourse, said, There was nothing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their undistinguishing Appetite to devour every Thing that came in their way, whether Herbs, Roots, Berries, the corrupted Flesh of Animals, or all mingled together: And it was peculiar in their Temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by Rapine or Stealth at a greater Distance, than much better Food provided for them at home. If their Prey held out, they would eat till they were ready to burst, after which Nature had pointed out to them a certain Root that gave them a general Evacuation.
There was also another kind of Root very juicy, but somewhat rare and difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought for with much Eagerness, and would suck it with great Delight; and it produced in them the same Effects that Wine hath upon us. It would make them sometimes hug, sometimes tear one another, they would howl and grin, and chatter, and tumble, and then fall asleep in the Dirt.

As to Learning, Government, Arts, Manufactures, and the like, my Master confessed he could find little or no Resemblance between the Yahoos of that Country and those in ours. For, he only meant to observe what Parity there was in our Natures. He had heard indeed some curious Houyhnhnms observe, that in most Herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo (as among us there is generally some leading or principal Stag in a park), who was always more deformed in Body and mischievous in Disposition, than any of the rest. That this Leader had usually a Favourite as like himself as he could get, whose Employment was to lick his Master's Feet and Posteriors, and drive the Female Yahoos to his Kennel; for which he was now and then rewarded with a piece of Ass's Flesh. This Favourite is hated by the whole Herd, and therefore to protect himself, keeps always near the Person of his Leader. He usually continues in Office till worse can be found; but the very Moment he is discarded, his Successor at the Head of all the Yahoos in that District, Young and Old, Male and Female, come in a Body, and discharge their Excrements upon him from Head to Foot. But how far this might be applicable to our Courts and Favourites, and Ministers of State, my Master said I could best determine.

My Master told me, there were some Qualities remarkable in the Yahoos, which he had not observed me to mention, or at least very slightly, in the Accounts I had given him of human kind; he said, Those Animals, like other Brutes, had their Females in common; but in this they differed, that the She-Yahoo would admit the Male, while she was pregnant; and that the Hees would quarrel and fight with Females as fiercely as with each other. Both which Practices were such Degrees of Brutality, that no other sensitive Creature ever arrived at.
Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos, was their strange Disposition to Nastiness and Dirt, whereas there appears to be a natural Love of Cleanliness in all other Animals. their filthy way of feeding, and their Custom of wallowing and sleeping in the Mud.

GLOSSARY:
candid – честен, откровен
to contract - придобивам
veneration – почит, уважение
contemplation – размишление, съзерцание
incitement - подтик
assign - приписвам
odious – противен, отвратителен, омразен
dissension – разногласие, кавга, спор
brute – звяр
abroad – навън, outside
ensue = follow
for want of = for the lack of
miscarry = fail; abort
miscarriage – помятане
kennel -кучешка колибка; дупка, бърлога, леговище на животно;
caution - предпазливост
comrade - другар
ascribe to – приписвам на
sordid - мръсен, жалък, низък
lament - оплаквам се, жалея
howl - вия
pine away – крея, линея
abound - изобилствам
abundance - изобилие
to occasion – to cause
inroad – набег, нашествие
discourse - conversation
render sth/sb + adj – make sb + adj
devour – eat greedily
corrupted flesh – развалено месо
rapine грабеж, обир, плячкосване
stealth – прокрадване, тъмна сделка
evacuation - физиол. изпразване, очистване (на черва, стомах);grin хиля се
tumble – катурвам се, премятам се
and the like – и други подобни
parity – еднаквост
disposition – нрав, характер, разположение
posteriors – задни части, задник
in office – position
discard – dismiss уволнявам
come in a body идват вкупом
to discharge изпускам, отделям
applicable to – приложим към
account – описание, разказ
cleanliness - чистота
wallow валям се, въргалям се


BOOK IV CHAPTER VIII
As these Noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by Nature with a general Disposition to all Virtues, and have no Conceptions or Ideas of what is Evil in a rational Creature, so their grand Maxim is, to cultivate Reason, and to be wholly governed by it. Neither is Reason among them a Point problematical as with us, where Men can argue with Plausibility on both sides of the Question; but strikes you with immediate Conviction; as it must needs do where it is not mingled, obscured, or discoloured by Passion and Interest. I remember it was with extreme Difficulty that I could bring my Master to understand the Meaning of the Word Opinion, or how a Point could be disputable;
Friendship and Benevolence are the two principal Virtues among the Houyhnhnms, and these not confined to particular Objects, but universal to the whole Race. For a Stranger from the remotest Part is equally treated with the nearest Neighbour, and wherever he goes, looks upon himself as at home. They preserve Decency and Civility in the highest Degrees,

In their Marriages they are exactly careful to choose such Colours as will not make any disagreeable Mixture in the Breed. Strength is chiefly valued in the Male, and Comeliness in the Female, not upon the account of Love, but to preserve the Race from degenerating; for where a Female happens to excel in Strength, a Consort is chosen with regard to Comeliness. Courtship, Love, Presents, Joyntures, Settlements, have no place in their Thoughts, or Terms whereby to express them in their Language. The young Couple meet and are joyned, merely because it is the Determination of their Parents and Friends: It is what they see done every Day, and they look upon it as one of the necessary Actions of a Rational Being. But the Violation of Marriage, or any other Unchastity, was never heard of: And the married Pair pass their Lives with the same Friendship, and mutual Benevolence that they bear to all others of the same Species, who come in their way; without Jealousy, Fondness, Quarrelling, or Disconten
Temperance, Industry, Exercise and Cleanliness, are the Lessons equally enjoyned to the young ones of both Sexes: And my Master thought it monstrous in us to give the Females a different kind of Education from the Males, except in some Articles of Domestick Management; whereby, as he truly observed, one half of our Natives were good for nothing but bringing Children into the World: And to trust the Care of our Children to such useless Animals, he said, was yet a greater Instance of Brutality.

GLOSSARY:
endow - дарявам
plausibility - правдоподобност
immediate conviction- непосредствена убедителност
mingle – смесвам
obscure неясен, объркан, неразбираем,
benevolence - доброжелателство, благосклонност; доброта, милосърдие; благоволение;
confined to = limited to
decency – скромност
civility- учтивост, вежливост
comeliness – хубост, миловидност
on the account of – because of
consort – съпруг /особено в кралско семейство/
jointure имущество (наследство) на съпруга (вдовица);
settlement сигуряване на владение върху имуществото от (бъдеща) съпруга
violation of marriage
chastity – целомъдрие,
discontent - недоволство
temperance – трезвеност, умереност
industry – усърдие, прилежание
whereby съгласно което, при което
brutality – жестокост, грубост

LITERARY TERMS

POLITICAL PAMPHLET was the most memorable writing of the period due to the urgent issues of national independence, statehood and government. Pamphleteering was a means of propagating new or controversial ideas through the distribution of inexpensive and easily produced tracts or pamphlets,Pamphleteering had its roots in English practice, particularly during the religious controversies and political contests of the commonwealth period. Sermons, often with a political tinge, were distributed as pamphlets in colonial America.The most renowned pamphleteer of the American Revolution was Thomas Paine. His Common Sense was one of the strongest and most effective arguments for independence, and The Crisis papers were a powerful buttress to the morale of the patriot cause.

SATIRE is the literary art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous. It evokes toward the subject attitudes of amusement, contempt, indignation, or scorn. It differs from the comic in that comedy evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself. However, satire derides, i.e., it uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt existing outside the work itself. That butt may be an individual or a type of person, a class, an institution, a nation, or even, (as in parts of Gulliver's Travels) the whole race of man.

PARODY ridicules a serious literary work or the characteristic style of an author by handling either and elevated subject in a trivial manner or a low subject with mock dignity. This is usually achieved by exaggerating some traits, using more or less the same technique as the cartoon caricaturist. As a branch of satire its purpose may be corrective as well as derisive.

BATHOS is intentional or unintentional change from what is deeply moving or sublime to what is unimportant, ridiculous or foolish.

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or
of thine own were: any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for thee."

John Donne
Devotions upon
Emergent Occasions, no. 17
(Meditation)
1624 (published)

JOHN DONNE

THE FLEA.
by John Donne


MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.


Source:
Donne, John. Poems of John Donne. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, ed.
London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 1-2.