Jonathan Swift

Introduction

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift is the world’s most misunderstood children’s writer. Though his classic book Gulliver’s Travels is often referred to as youth reading, it is in fact an audacious satire on the society in which Swift lived. Swift complemented his satirical work with essays and pamphlets on government and society; his commentary often put him at odds with political parties as well as the monarchy. Swift’s battles were also artistic as evidenced by “An Essay Upon Ancient and Modern Learning,” which ardently defended classical writing and set off a debate that spanned numerous volumes written by several authors. In A Modest Proposal, Swift mockingly proposed that the rich make meals out of poor people’s babies. It was this kind of dark whimsy, in which harsh criticism was wrapped in effervescent ridiculousness, that ultimately defined the work of Jonathan Swift.

Essential Facts

1. Due to the sharply political nature of his writing, many of Swift’s most famous works were published anonymously or under pseudonyms.
2. Throughout his life, Swift suffered periods of illness. Based on descriptions of his symptoms, it has been concluded that he suffered from what is now known as Meniere’s disease.
3. Swift was very close with a childless woman named Esther Johnson who became his ward at a very young age. While some believe the two were married later in life, no conclusive evidence has been found.
4. Swift was a member of the Martinus Scriblerus Club, a society of writers that included Swift’s friends Alexander Pope and John Gay.
5. With most of his close friends dead, Swift bequeathed much of his fortune to the founding of what was then known as St. Patrick’s Hospital for Imbeciles.