ABSTRACT
Satireisasoldasliteratureitself.Itseemscuriousthen,giventhatitisafar fromalienpresenceinmuchElizabethanliterature,thataslateas1597Joseph HallcouldboastofhisVirgidemiaeor'HarvestofRods'asa'firstaduenture' inEnglishsatireandchallenge'thesecondEnglishSatyrist'tocomeforth. Hall'sclaim,however-thatheisthefirsttowriteformalversesatiresclosely basedonClassicalmodels-defines'Satyre'intermsoftheRomangenre ratherthanthemedievalmodeofComplaint,oramoregeneralliterary impulse.Toopendebateonthenatureofthisgenre,andhowfaritspagan modelscouldbenaturalizedintoacontemporaryChristiansetting,Halljokily adoptsanauthorialpersona,convenientlyandorthographicallysummarizedas a'Satyrist',whichplaysonthemisconceptionconnectingsatireetymologically withthe'satyrs'ofClassicalmyth.ZThemythichybridisemblematicofwhat HallregardsasthesalientcharacteristicsofLatinversesatire:Juvenal's savageryandPersius'sobscurityandStoicism,asopposedtoLangland's Christianplainspeaking.Hall'spunphysicalizesastylisticparadigminhis pagan'auctores'topretendthathis'satyres'aretherantsofawildyet Classicalbeast-man,butheexcuseshimselffromthetaskofseriously embodyingthepersona:'TheruderSatyreshouldgorag'dandbare:IAnd showhisrougherandhishairyhide:IThominebesmooth,anddecktin carelessepride'(Poems,9).
