Jonathan Swift

In "The Lady's Dressing Room," Jonathan Swift satirizes society's unrealistic idealization of women by depicting Strephon's horror upon discovering the messy reality of his mistress Celia's dressing...

Marxist criticism of Jonathan Swift's "Market Women's Cries" highlights the exploitation and oppression faced by the lower-class women depicted. The women must sell their goods to survive,...

Oliver Goldsmith uses gentle humor to make a strong social criticism, while Jonathan Swift uses biting satire to make his point.

The lines from Swift's poem reflect Strephon's hope that Celia hides her most repulsive habits, symbolized by the "vile machine" or chamber pot. The "secrets of the hoary deep" metaphorically refer...

In "Gulliver's Travels," the Lilliputians' education system illustrates the government's control over education, where children are placed in state-run nurseries based on their parents' social...

Both Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room" and Montagu's "The Reasons" achieve their satirical intents, though reader reception varies. Swift's poem humorously critiques women's grooming rituals,...

Jonathan Swift's poem "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" critiques the Duke of Marlborough, who died in 1722. Swift satirizes the Duke's lack of popularity due to his...

The purpose of satire in "A Modest Proposal" is to criticize the indifferent attitudes of the English towards Irish poverty and to express Swift's own views on the issue. By employing irony,...

Jonathan Swift's works reflect a critical view of humanity's flaws, particularly pride, but do not necessarily indicate pure misanthropy. In "A Modest Proposal," Swift critiques specific societal...

Both Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" and Swift's "The Lady’s Dressing Room" critique women's vanity and societal emphasis on appearances, but in different styles. Pope uses Horatian satire to mock...

The most famous quote from Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is "A young healthy child well nursed is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food." This satirical work...

"The Lady's Dressing Room" is an extended "toilet humor" satire about an upper class woman's dressing room and her efforts to beautify herself. Strephon enters the room, and the poem begins to spiral...

As the title suggests, this short poem, which was probably first written around 1731, has an apocalyptic theme. The speaker recounts his vision of the last day, the Day of Judgement. Swift however...

In Jonathan Swift's writing, "biting" refers to his harsh, cruel, and cutting style of satire. Unlike the gentle mockery of contemporaries like Alexander Pope, Swift's satire is more shocking and...

The two poets mentioned, Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith, write about such themes as the difference between attractive appearance and sordid reality, the effects of time on people and places, and...