BUTLER, SAMUEL (senior). - English satirical poet, b. in 1612 at Streusham (Worcester), d. in 1680 at Covent Garden (London) of tuberculosis.
He was secretary to various Presbyterian magistrates, from whom he derived many ideas for shaping the character of the hypocrite Hudibras, protagonist of the eponymous heroic-comic poem, in octosyllabic couplets (in 3 parts: 1663, anonymous; 1664; 1678). It recounts the ridiculous adventures of Sir Hudibras, a pedantic and scholastic Presbyterian judge, and of his squire Ralpho, an Independent; adventures intended to show the absurdity and hypocrisy of Puritanism. The work recalls Don Quixote, but its animating spirit is rather Rabelaisian. The satire, not always kept within its limits, the frequent plays on words, and the imaginative phrases, unaccompanied by high poetry and narrative skill, achieve comic rather than literary effects. Noteworthy among B.'s works are the witty Characters. A monument in his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey in 1721.