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How and why do poets and authors critique or comment on issues in society? (picture)

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How and why do poets and authors critique or comment on issues in society? (picture)

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Why do we read and write poetry/literature? (picture)

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Why do we read and write poetry/literature? (picture)

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How and why do poets and authors critique or comment on issues in society?(video)

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How and why do poets and authors critique or comment on issues in society?(video)

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Have you ever watched a friend be bullied or otherwise mistreated and wanted to do something about it? Maybe you physically stepped in, or perhaps you wrote about the experience on your blog. This particular blog entry could most likely be considered a work of social commentary, or one that critiques one or more aspects of society so as to highlight its flaws and ideally prevent their continuation.

Social commentaries have existed for as long as societies have been around to comment on. Since humans first began interacting in groups, issues surrounding the cultural, political, religious, or other aspects of that interaction in society have attracted the attention of those who feel they need fixing. Many people, particularly writers of social commentaries, feel there's an innate sense of justice and overall humanity that each of us possesses purely by the virtue of being human. These authors, then, might hold themselves as guardians and expressionists of these inborn sentiments.

Many of the most influential thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome were adamant about defending their own humanity and that of others, and so many of the methods that still produce social commentaries today got their start in the ancient Mediterranean.

Let's take a look at a few approaches to assessing society that have developed over the practice's long and storied history. First, let's look at utopian literature.

For millennia, the Garden of Eden and similar locales have been used to symbolize a 'utopia,' which is generally interpreted to mean an ideal place. The works concerned with ideal places and societies belong to a genre known as utopian literature. The oral representation of utopias is quite ancient, and the literary tradition is rather old, as well, owing its origins to Plato's Republic from the 4th century B.C.E. Though the name is Greek, Plato did not call his ideal society a 'utopia.' Rather, the title was derived by Thomas More for his work by that name published in 1516.

What Plato and More both do is present their concepts of what the ideal society would be in order to contrast with how things are going in their present situations. Plato, for instance, envisions a society ruled by philosopher kings who do not engage in the questionable politics so prevalent in the Athens of his day. Perhaps the philosopher was more optimistic than More, who named his work and fictional island-nation Utopia to demonstrate that such ideal places and 'people constituted so well as (the Utopians)' do not and will not exist as long as societies continue to take their present courses of action.

Next, let's look at satire.

If you're like many in America, you might choose to get your news from sources like The Daily Show or from the now-defunct Colbert Report, which present pointed commentary on today's biggest issues while couching their criticism in comedy. In literature, this genre of works dedicated to social criticism through the use of comedic elements is called satire and, like utopian literature, owes its origins to authors of the ancient Mediterranean. The Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was famous for prodding at his Athenian countrymen with his hilarious productions, and the Roman poets Horace and Juvenal brought satire into its own as an art form - one which still classifies works according to their individual styles, Horatian or Juvenalian satire, today.

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books & examples - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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What is Social Commentary? - Definition, Books & Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Have you ever watched a friend be bullied or otherwise mistreated and wanted to do something about it? Maybe you physically stepped in, or perhaps you wrote about the experience on your blog.

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Why do we read and write poetry/literature? (video)

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Why do we read and write poetry/literature? (video)

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Using the Communications Triangle to analyze why people write.