Entertainment / Literature / Estates Satire: A medieval genre common among French poets in which the speaker lists various occupations among the three estates of feudalism (nobles, peasants, and clergy) and depicts them in a manner that shows how short they fall from the ideal of that occupation. In the late medieval period, the genre expanded to discuss the failings of bourgeois individuals as well. The genre was not unknown in England. John Gower's Vox Clamantis and Confessio Amantis have passages similar to those in continental estates satire. Jill Mann suggests in her famous book, Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire, that the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales is itself an example of this genre. See also satire and three estates. The genre is also called medieval estates satire.
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Satire Verb Synonyms: ridicule, irony, sarcasm, mockery, spoofing, exaggeration, caricature
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Entertainment / Literature / Satire: An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards. Satire became an MORE
Entertainment / Literature / Medieval Estates Satire: A medieval genre common among French poets in which the speaker lists various occupations among the three estates of feudalism (nobles, peasants, and clergy) and depicts them in a manner that shows ho MORE
Entertainment / Literature / Social Satire: Satire aimed specifically at the general foibles of society rather than an attack on an individual. See discussion under satire. MORE