| Front | Hudibras |
|---|---|
| Back | A satiric poem in three parts Samual Butler Each part Three cantos The strongest influences on Butler were Cervantes and Rabelais Visiting a widow Anti-puritan satire Unequivocal attack on hypocrisy and self-dellusion Mock-heroic style Hudibras (/ˈhjuːdɪbræs/)[1] is an English mock-heroic narrative poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler. work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War. The work was begun, according to the title page, during the civil war and published in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678, with the first edition encompassing all three parts in 1684. The Mercurius Aulicus (an early newspaper of the time) reported an unauthorised edition of the first part was already in print in early 1662. Published only four years after Charles II had been restored to the throne and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell being completely over, the poem found an appreciative audience. The satire is not balanced as Butler was fiercely royalist and only the parliamentarian side are singled out for ridicule. Butler also uses the work to parody some of the dreadful poetry of the time. The epic tells the story of Sir Hudibras, a knight errant who is described dramatically and with laudatory praise that is so thickly applied as to be absurd, revealing the conceited and arrogant person visible beneath. He is praised for his knowledge of logic, despite appearing stupid throughout, but it is his religious fervour which is mainly attacked: For his Religion, it was fit To match his Learning and his Wit: 'Twas Presbyterian true blew; For he was of that stubborn Crew Of Errant Saints, whom all men grant To be the true Church Militant: Such as do build their Faith upon The holy text of Pike and Gun; Decide all Controversies by Infallible Artillery; And prove their Doctrine Orthodox By Apostolic Blows and Knocks; Call Fire and Sword and Desolation, A godly-thorough-Reformation, Which always must be carry'd on, And still be doing, never done: As if Religion were intended For nothing else but to be mended. — First Part, Canto I, lines 189-206 His squire, Ralpho, is of a similar stamp but makes no claim to great learning, knowing all there is to know from his religion or "new-light", as he calls it. Butler satirises the competing factions at the time of the Protectorate by the constant bickering of these two principal characters whose religious opinions should unite them. These are fawning but barbed portraits and are thought to represent personalities of the times but the actual analogues are, now as then, debatable. "A Key to Hudibras" printed with one of the work's editions (1709) and ascribed to Roger L'Estrange names Sir Samuel Luke as the model for Hudibras. Certainly, the mention of Mamaluke in the poem makes this possible, although Butler suggests Hudibras is from the West Country, making Henry Rosewell a candidate. The witchfinder Matthew Hopkins, John Desborough, parliamentarian general, and William Prynne, lawyer, all make appearances, and the character of Sidrophel is variously seen as either William Lilly or Paul Neale |
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