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Jonathan Swift


Jonathan Swift
Portrait by Charles Jervas, 1710
Portrait by Charles Jervas, 1710
Born(1667-11-30)30 November 1667
Dublin, Ireland
Died19 October 1745(1745-10-19) (aged 77)
Dublin, Ireland
Pen name
Occupation
LanguageModern English
EducationTrinity College, Dublin (BA)
Period18th century
Genres
Subjects
  • Religion
  • politics
  • other
Literary movement
Years activeFrom 1696
Notable works
PartnerEsther Johnson (?)
Signature

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]

  1. ^ a b Jonathan Swift at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ "Swift", Online literature, archived from the original on 3 August 2019, retrieved 17 December 2011
  3. ^ "What higher accolade can a reviewer pay to a contemporary satirist than to call his or her work Swiftian Archived 23 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine?" Frank Boyle, "Johnathan Swift", Ch 11 in A Companion to Satire: Ancient and Modern (2008), edited by Ruben Quintero, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0470657952.

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