10 facts about jonathan swift

“Much as he relished the fray, Swift would always deny that he had turned renegade. The degenerates who had taken over government, Parliament, the Crown – it was they who had left him no option but resistance. This was Swift’s line of argument; and this, as well he knew, was the reasoning of a rebel, however reluctant.” Thus concludes John Stubbs’ august biography of one of Europe’s most notorious satirical writers. It goes without saying that Swift was a most intricate man; a Tory at heart, a social critic and clergyman by profession, a writer in the memory of posterity. But he was also intimately bound up with the politics of his days and didn’t leave politics from his sharp wit of criticism or without imparting his own thoughts on the subject. Three centuries later, with a world in transformation just like in Swift’s time, his voluminous writings still have much wisdom and insight for us in the twenty-first century.

Jonathan Swift was one of the eighteenth century’s wittiest man of letters. Beyond his fame for A Tale of the Tub, Gulliver’s Travels, and A Modest Proposa

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Modest Proposal: Introduction

A concise biography of Jonathan Swift plus historical and literary context for A Modest Proposal.

Modest Proposal: Plot Summary

A quick-reference summary: A Modest Proposal on a single page.

Modest Proposal: Detailed Summary & Analysis

In-depth summary and analysis of every of A Modest Proposal. Visual theme-tracking, too.

Modest Proposal: Themes

Explanations, analysis, and visualizations of A Modest Proposal's themes.

Modest Proposal: Quotes

A Modest Proposal's important quotes, sortable by theme, character, or .

Modest Proposal: Characters

Description, analysis, and timelines for A Modest Proposal's characters.

Modest Proposal: Symbols

Explanations of A Modest Proposal's symbols, and tracking of where they appear.

Modest Proposal: Literary Devices

A Modest Proposal's key literary devices explained and sortable by chapter.

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Jonathan Swift

Anglo-Irish satirist and cleric (1667–1745)

For other uses, see Jonathan Swift (disambiguation).

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish^[1] writer who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin,^[2] hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift". His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".^[3]

Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—including Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles. He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the "foremost prose satirist in the English language."^[1]

Biography

Early life

Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin in the Kingdom of Ireland. He w