Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

English poet and satirist, born in Dublin, Ireland, of an English father, known for his proud and sensitive temperament, which made him furiously intolerant of the stupidities and vices of mankind, and for his brilliant and biting satire written on the controversial issues of his time. His works include The Battle of the Books ( 1697), written in connection with the literary controversy between the Ancients and Moderns; The Tale of a tub ( 1704); Drapier's Letters ( 1724), an attack on a currency scandal in Ireland; Gullivers Travels ( 1726), his most celebrated work; A Modest Proposal ( 1729). His Journal to Stella was written in a cryptic language for his private interest but was deciphered and published after a number of years, becoming one of the best-known of his works. Swift spent an unhappy and humiliating childhood in Ireland among his Irish relatives, and was similarly unhappy and disillusioned during most of his life.

He became a member of the clergy of the Church of England, associated with the English Tory leaders and made the acquaintance of Pope, Addison, and Steele, and for a while, during the reign of Queen Anne, held a position of power in England through his pamphlets and essays. In 1713 he was appointed Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin but lost his power on the death of the Queen the following year. His relations with both Stella and Vanessa ended tragically, and during the final years of his life he was insane. Swift, who is regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in English literature, is frequently mentioned throughout James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.