Satirical works of Kshemendra (study)
by Arpana Devi | 2017 | 60,954 words
This page relates ‘Summary of The Battle of the Book� part of the study on the Satirical works of Kshemendra: an 11th century poet from Kashmir, who composed three satirical works. Kshemendra himself says that in composing the satirical works his only motive is to reform the mindset of the people.—He exposes all the vices and follies prevailing in the society with the intention to reform it.
8.3. Summary of The Battle of the Book
The Battle of the Book is a notable prose satire composed by Jonathan Swift. Jonathan Swift is the greatest name in the domain of prose satire. He was born in Dublin in 1667. His parents were English still he is called ‘the great Irish patriot� in the sense of having been born in Dublin. He spent his greater part of his life in Ireland. Swift was not only a satirist, but also a poet and a political writer. He was an unparallel writer of irony, burlesque and satire. Swift’s satire is often merciless and violent; sometimes it is rude and repelling. For the improvement of universal improvement of mankind, Swift composes his satirical works.
The Battle of the Book is his first remarkable work, published in 1704. The theme of the work deals with wide-ranging dispute between the Ancients and Moderns which divided scholars in seventeenth-century France. The quarrel becomes significant when Sir William Temple wrote an essay on the comparative merits of ‘Ancient and Modern learning�. Temple was in support of the Ancients and Swift composed Battle of the Book to promote him. The controversy between the Ancients and Moderns are put forward in the form of a fictional battle between the two sets of books existing in the library at St. James’s palace. The battle starts from a request by the Moderns that the Ancients shall withdraw the higher of the two peaks of Parnassus which they have occupied. The books that are supporter of the moderns take up the matter but before the battle was to be started, there occurs a dispute between a spider living in the corner of the library and a bee blundering into the spider’s web. According to Aesop, the quarrel between the spider and the bee is symbolic of contend between the Moderns and the Ancients. For him, the spider represents the Moderns who spin their scholastic lore out of their own bowels and the bee represents the Ancients who go to nature for their honey.
In the work, the battle is a satirical allegory on a scholarly debate between the Ancients and Moderns. The dialogue and the actions of the spider and the bee have satiric effect.