... meant goat-man. Unlike a libel, a satire doesn't directly abuse the victim. Dryden has avoided the tone of direct abuse in Mac Flecknoe and has let the action speak for itself. A libel is a defamatory statement usually made to falsely accuse the victim. Samuel Johnson's eighteenth century dictionary defines slander as a libel with a casual or callous disregard for truth. A slander differs from a libel only ... 's unsold books which lay in an undignified state. To give his poem a semi-religious significance, he traces Shadwell's dramatic ancestry in a biblical manner. Heywood and Shirley ...

• Word Count: 2125
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School