The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals
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Humor: The Lampoon
Punchinello,Volume 1, Issue 4,
April 23, 1870, page 49.
Punchinello was a comic character
from Italian puppetry, the inspiration
for the British puppet show Punch
and Judy. Was Punchinello a good
title for the magazine? Why or why not?
The lampoon is a form of humor that uses ridicule to attack a person, group, or institution. Nothing was free from lampooning in the magazine Punchinello. In the April 23, 1870, issue the magazine published this lampoon in verse:
Temperance Song
Strained Verses Dedicated to Unstrained Water
By A. Filterer
Bring a glass of sparkling water,
Fill the goblet to the brim,
Let the microscopic critters
Take in it a harmless swim.
Here are meat and drink united,
Life, indeed, in this we see;
Who'd exchange so rich a fluid
For the baser eau de vie?
Give us, then, no ale or porter,
Logwood wine, nor other drugs,
But a glass of sparkling water
Filled with sportive little bugs.
From "A Temperance Song," Punchinello, Volume 1, Issue 4, April 23, 1870
- What individual, group, or institution does this verse lampoon? How does it ridicule that person, group, or institution?
- Do you think this verse was effective in drawing attention to a social issue of the day? Why or why not?
- What advantages and disadvantages might the lampoon have as a way to comment on important issues?
- Why do you think lampooning was a popular feature in some nineteenth-century periodicals? Is lampooning still popular today? Give examples to support your view.
- How are the lampoon and satire similar and different?