English Satires
1738
Five centuries of English writers sharpening their pens like knives. This collection gathers the fiercest voices in the satirical tradition, from Langland's allegorical dream-vision through Chaucer's vicious portraits of greedy monks and fraudulent friars to Swift's devastating reckonings with human folly. These are not gentle critiques but surgical strikes at the heart of hypocrisy, corruption, and self-delusion. What unites these writers across centuries is their refusal to look away from what society preferred hidden: the rot behind religious authority, the stupidity dressed as wisdom, the cruelty masked as virtue. The satire here bites. It named names, embarrassed the powerful, and made readers laugh at truths too uncomfortable to face directly. For anyone who believes literature should disturb the comfortable and mock the pompous, these voices remain startlingly fresh.
Editions
X-Ray
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations.””
— Unknown
“Every woman is a rebel, and usually in wild revolt against herself.””
— Unknown
“But she is happiest alone. She is happiest alone.””
— Unknown
“Nothing spoils romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman””
— Unknown
“When a man is old enough to do wrong he should be old enough to do right also.””
— Unknown
“LORD ILLINGWORTH: The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life.MRS ALLONBY: And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy.””
— Unknown
“Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.””
— Unknown
“To get into the best society, nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people - that is all!””
— Unknown
“I don't know how to talk.Oh! talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.””
— Unknown
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3b"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read English Satires by Unknown free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3b)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3b][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read English Satires by Unknown free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3bCite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Unknown. English Satires. Lex, lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3b.Unknown (1738). English Satires. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3bUnknown. English Satires. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/english-satires-b05279ec-0131-4d6a-abca-5a3e1953ea3b.




