ABSTRACT
There are many writers for whom satire was an important but not the only form of literary expression. There is some satire in Shakespeare's plays but most critics agree that the satiric tone is not dominant. To some critics the combination of poetry and satire seems incongruous. As far as style and technique are concerned, there are perhaps two extreme groups: "rough" and "smooth" satirists. Again, there is no definitive agreement as to the precise line between roughness and smoothness. Although some satirists show much more creative imagination than others, it is difficult to draw a sharp line between the "imaginative" satirists and the "commentators". Gilbert Cannan believes that all satirists are poets with an inferior imagination. There have been some writers who wrote primarily satire, some who wrote a good deal of satire, and some who wrote only a little satire. There have been classical, romantic, realistic, cosmic, expressionistic, and impressionistic satirists.
