SAMUEL BUTLER
\sˈamjuːl bˈʌtlə], \sˈamjuːl bˈʌtlə], \s_ˈa_m_j_uː_l b_ˈʌ_t_l_ə]\
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An English satirist; born in Strensham, Worcestershire, in February 1612; died in London, Sept. 25, 1680. Little is known of his life except what Anthony-a-Wood relates. He was educated at Oxford or Cambridge, occupied his leisure in studying music and painting, became a man of wide and curious learning, and gained his living as secretary and clerk to aristocratic personages. His famous poem, "Hudibras", a witty and sharp satire on the Puritans, secured instant favor with the king and the public; yet after the appearance of the first part in 1663, he spent seventeen years in poverty and obscurity. The second and third divisions of "Hudibras" appeared in 1664 and 1678. The general design of the great poem was derived from "Don Quixote". The situations of the mock epic are few but ludicrous, and the whole canvas is embellished with imagination, raillery, subtle casuistry, brilliant epigrams, and sparkling wit. "Hudibras" consists of 10,000 verses, and is one of the most frequently quoted books in the language. The standard edition by Dr. Z. Grey (1744) has frequently been reprinted. Butler's next important works are: "The Elephant in the Moon", a satire on the Royal Society; a series of prose "Characters"; and an "Ode to Duval", the famous highwayman. "The Posthumous Works of Mr. S. Butler" were published with great success (1715).
By Charles Dudley Warner
Word of the day
basidiomycota
- comprises fungi bearing the spores on basidium: Gasteromycetes (puffballs); Tiliomycetes (comprising orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts)); Hymenomycetes (mushrooms; toadstools; agarics; bracket fungi); in some classification systems considered a division of kingdom comprises fungi bearing spores on a basidium; includes Gasteromycetes (puffballs) Tiliomycetes comprising the orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts) Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, toadstools, agarics bracket fungi).