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JONATHAN SWIFT (1667–1745)
His Life and Work
Jonathan Swift was the greatest of English satirists. His bitter satire was aimed at the contemporary social order in general, and at the policy of the English bourgeoisie towards the Irish in particular. That is why the Irish people considered Swift their champioti in the struggle for the welfare and freedom of their country.
Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, but he came from an English family. The writer's father, supervisor at the court buildings of Dublin, died at the age of twenty-five, leaving his wife and daughter penniless. His son was bom seven months after his death, on November 30,1667. He was named Jonathan after his late father.
The boy knew little of his mother's care: she had to go back to her native town of Leicester and Jonathan hardly ever saw her during his childhood. He was supported by his uncle Godwin.
In the age of six he was sent to Kilkenny School, which he left at fourteen. Then he entered Trinity College in Dublin and got his Bachelor's degree in 1686.
The Revolution of 1688 was followed by an uprising in Ireland, and Swift, being English, narrowly escaped the vengeance of the Irish supporters of James II. He sailed over to England and, after many years, once again saw his mother in Leicester. With her help he became private secretary and account-keeper to Sir William Temple, on the latter's estate at Moor Park, not far from London. Sir William was a retired diplomat and also a writer. An English historian, who described Sir William Temple as a narrow-minded selfish man, said, "Little did Temple imagine that the coarse exterior of his dependant concealed a genius equally suited to politics and ti, tetters, a geniu» destined to shake great kingdoms, to stir the laughter and the rage of millions, and to leave to posterity memorials which can perish only with the English language." At Moor Park Swift made friends with Hester Johnson, the daughter of the housekeeper. He taught the little girl English spelling and gave ' her advice in reading. This friendship lasted all his life. Hester became the Stella of Swift's famous, work "Journal to Stella". Having improved his education at Moor Park by taking advantage of Sir William's library. Swift went to Oxford and took his Master of' Arts degree in 1692. A recommendation from his patron helped him to get the place of vicar at a little parish church in Ireland, where he remained for a year and a half He wrote much and burnt most of wliat he wrote. Soon he grew tired of the lonely life in Ireland and was ; glad to accept Sir William Temple's proposal that he should return to. Moor Park, where he continued to live and work until his patron's death in 1699.
At the end of the 17th century a discussion as to whether or not the works of ancient writers were superior to those of the modems, which had started in France, spread to England. Ancient philosophers and poets were compared to the modem authors of the day, and each side strove to prove that the one or the other was superior. It goes without saying that this stupid controversy turned into farce, as even ignorant people joined in the discussion. One such vain person was Sir William-Temple. In 1692 he published an "Essay on Ancient and Modem Learning in which he praised the ancients. Immediately his opponents, the scholars Bentley and Wotton, published a book in reply ridiculing Temple's ignorance. Swift wished to help his patron out of the awkward situation, in which he found himself, and wrote a satire "The Battle of the Books". The story is in the form of an allegory. Swift pretends to have come upon an old manuscript, which he decides to publish. The manuscript tells of an incident that took place in St. James's Library. The librarian is Bentley. Sir William's opponent. He has given the books ot modem writers the best place on the shelves, and has thrown the volumes oi ancient works aside. The books of the ancient authors strive to get back their own, and make war on the moderns. Amidst a cloud of dust the two armies (the army of the ancients and the army of the moderns) engage in a battle. Swift did not want to take either side, that's why he does not tell his readers who won the battle. He drops the narrative pretending to have lost the end of the manuscript, though written in 1697 the satire remained unpublished until 1704 when it was issued with another brilliant work by Swift, "A Tale of a Tub". The "Tale of a Tub" is an anti.religious satire. The title of the book has a double meaning and explains the idea of the hook. 1) "A TaJe of a Tub" means a nonsense story told as a joke; 2) In the preface to the book Swift tells his readers of an old custom seamen had when at sea: if a whale began to follow the vessel, they threw an empty tub into the water to divert the whale's attention from the ship.
The empty tub symbolizes religion, which diverts people from the need to fight for their rights, and is useful in controlling the nation. The ship is the symbol of the State. After the death of Sir William Temple, Swift became vicar again and went to live in a little place called Laracor, in Ireland. He invited Hester Johnson to come to this place. She had by then grown up into a beautiful young woman. It is believed that Swift made a secret marriage with Stella, but much of his private life is unknown to us.
At Laracor Swift kept an eye on the political events of London. Party strife reached its climax in 1702 when the Whigs were preparing for a war called the "War of the Spanish Succession". Swift wrote apolitical pamphlet in defence of the Whig policy, which at that time was thought by most Englishmen to be lor the good of the country jSome of the Whig leaders who had met Swift at Moor Park asked him to come to London? London brought him into the labyrinth of contemporary events, which became the chief passion of his life. Swift often went to the coffeehouses where he talked with the journalists and with the common people. His contributions to “The Taller", "The Spectator" and other magazines show how well he understood the spirit of the time. Swift's conversations with the leaders of the English political parties are described in a series of letters he wrote to Stella ("Journal to Steya").
In 1713 Swift was made Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. While in Ireland this time, he came into contact with the common people and saw the miserable conditions in which the population lived. The expenses of the wars for new British colonies were a heavy burden on the people of Ireland. Swift wrote pamphlets criticizing the colonial policy of England, intending thus to lielp the common people. "Drapier's Letters" (a series of letters under the signature of "M. B. Drapier") were directed against the English government for their treatment of Ireland, and particularly for allowing a certain William Wood (a speculator) to make worthless copper money for circulation in Ireland. Swift roused the public feeling so effectually that the project was given up. This pamphlet and others made Swift so popular among the Irish people that he is said to have possessed more real influence over them than the highest of constituted authorities.
In 1726 Swift's masterpiece "Gulliver's Travels" appeared. Swift's inventive genius and biting satire were at their best in this work, which made a great sensation."
In 1728 Stella died after a long illness. This loss affected Swift so deeply that some of his biographers say he was never the same man again.
Conditions in Ireland between 1700 and 1750 were such as no English historian would have ventured to depict. Famine had depopulated whole regions. Travelers described how their way lay through districts covered with unburied corpses. All this worked like poison in Swift's blood. He wrote the pamphlets: "The Present Miserable State of Ireland" and "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Child of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents or the Country..., and other pamphlets. "A Modest Proposal, etc." is a biting satire on those who caused the poverty of the Irish population. Swift pretends to propose that parents of large families should kill their children and sell the meat in the market so as to escape starvation and do away with the surplus population.
Hard work and continuous disappointments in life undermined Swift's health. By the end of 1731 his mind was as failing rapidly In 1740 his memory and reason were gone and he became completely deaf. He died on the 19th of October, 1745 in Dublin.
“GULLIVER'S TRAVELS”
In "Gulliver's Travels" Swift satirized the evils of the existing society in the form of fictitious travels. The scenes and nations described in the book are so extraordinary and arrtusing, that the novel is as great a favourite with children as with adults. It tells of the adventures of a ship's surgeon, as related by himself, and ia divided into foor Parts, or four voyages.