Jonathan Swift: 1667-1745

1
Jonathan Swift 1667-1745

• Born in Dublin, Ireland.
• At 19, he is employed by Sir William Temple a
  powerful English statesman.
• Tutors 8 year old Esther Stella Johnson.
• Develops Ménières Syndrome, a disturbance of the
  inner ear.
• 1694 Deacon and later Priest in Dublin

2
Jonathan Swift

• Falls in love with Jane Varina Waring.
• 1696 returns to Temples service. Temple dies
  in1699. Series of clerical jobs in Ireland.
• 1704 Tale of the Tub satire on corruptions in
  religion and learning. Also Battle of the Books,
  a mock-epic on the debate between Ancients and
  Moderns.

3
Jonathan Swift

• 1707 Involved with The Tatler. Adopts pseudonym
  Issac Bickerstaff.
• 1720 Involved with Irish causes.
• 1729 A Modest Proposal
• 1726 Gullivers Travels
• 1742 establishes site for insane asylum (St.
  Patricks Hospital)

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Satire

• makes a subject appear ridiculous (may invite
  scorn, contempt, indignation, along with
  amusement)
• satiric vs. comic (satire is amusing though
  serious attacks an individual or a type comic
  evokes amusement, usually through farce)
• - satire looks to correct a perceived problem
  (comedy does not)

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what forms of satire/comedy are with us today?

• satire as intellectual (evidence of the intellect
  of the writer)
• - how does the heroic couplet work as part of
  satire?
• satire as corrective (it can turn the subjects
  own self-centeredness against itself only
  through satire can the subject be reached)

6
what forms of satire/comedy are with us today?

• role of the speaker mock-heroic (unaware of his
  own ridiculousness)
• Mac Flecknoe indirect satire (versus direct
  personal address by a competent
  narrator/speaker)
• wit
• - suggests an element of the comic through verbal
  play
• - wit as verbal dexterity wit connects the
  intellect with the use of language

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Literary Satire

• Paints a distorted verbal picture of part of the
  world in order to show its true moral (as opposed
  to merely its physical) nature.
• May be in verse or prose form.
• Relies on an a priori agreement regarding moral
  behavior.

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Literary Satire

• Relies on irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm.
• 18th-Century satire Attempts to be wise, smooth,
  urbane, and skeptical.
• The prose satiric tone is often harsh, sharp,
  and sometimes downright nasty.

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Visual satire

• Ironic Iraqi dinar presents a distorted picture
  in order to show true moral nature of US
  interest in Iraq. A priori moral assumption
  U.S. president should NOT be affiliated with
  Iraqi money.

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Types of Satire

• Direct relies on a first-person narrator (the
  adversarius)
• Horatian pokes fun at human folly. More
  comedic, less serious.
• Juvenalian relies on dignified denunciations.
  Often more politically focused.
• Indirect satiric effect is achieved through
• modes of presentation representation, not
• direct condemnation.
• Swift combines the two types and is more
• Juvenalian than Horatian.
• Relies on your ability to understand irony.

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Types of Satire

• Indirect satiric effect is achieved through
• modes of presentation representation, not
• direct condemnation.
• Swift combines the two types and is more
• Juvenalian than Horatian.
• Relies on your ability to understand irony.

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Enlightenment Principles

• Objectivity
• Science is the paradigm for all true knowledge.
• Right use of reason
• claims to authority grounded in reason
• Reason is independent of self / context
• complex connections between reason, autonomy,
  and freedom.

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Enlightenment Principles

• Language is transparent
• These ideas of the Enlightenment enable the irony
  in 18th-century satire.

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Irony and Sarcasm

• Irony a contradiction or incongruity between
  appearance and / or expectation.
• Sarcasm intentional derision, generally directed
  at another person, and intended to hurt.
• Can jeeringly state the opposite of what is meant

15
Jonathan Swift

• Was Irish.
• Religious Biography
• So, would this man seriously suggest eating Irish
  babies?

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Swift A Modest Proposal

• Narrative I
• Self-effacing but. As to my own part (484).
• Irony
• Title is this a modest proposal? (485)
• Language / resources
• Word choices breeders, dams (484)
• Referenced authorities Americans and
  Formosans

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Swift A Modest Proposal

• Cannibals and savages
• Sarcasm
• Moral expediency (484, 486-487)
• Rejects actual moral options (488)

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Gullivers Travels, A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG Part
II, Chapter V
The Maids of Honour often invited Glumdalclitch
to their Apartments, and desired she would bring
me along with her, on Purpose to have the
Pleasure of seeing and touching me. They would
often strip me naked from Top to Toe, and lay me
at full Length in their Bosoms wherewith I was
much disgusted because, to say the Truth, a very
offensive Smell came from their Skins which I do
not mention or intend to the Disadvantage of
those excellent Ladies, for whom I have all
Manner of Respect but, I conceive that my Sense
was more acute in Proportion to my Littleness,
and that those illustrious Persons were no more
disagreeable to their Lovers, or to each other,
than People of the same Quality are with us in
England. And, after all, I found their natural
Smell was much more supportable than when they
used Perfumes, under which I immediately swooned
away. I cannot forget that an intimate Friend of
mine in Lilliput took the Freedom in a warm Day,
when I had used a good deal of Exercise, to
complain of a strong Smell about me, although I
am as little faulty that way as most of my Sex
But I suppose his Faculty of Smelling was as nice
with regard to me, as mine was to that of this
People. Upon this point, I cannot forbear doing
Justice to the Queen my Mistress, and
Glumdalclitch my Nurse, whose Persons were as
sweet as those of any Lady in England.
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Chapter V contd.
That which gave me most Uneasiness among these
Maids of Honour, when my Nurse carried me to
visit them, was to see them use me without any
manner of Ceremony, like a Creature who had no
sort of Consequence. For, they would strip
themselves to the Skin, and put on their Smocks
in my Presence, while I was placed on their
Toylet directly before their naked Bodies, which,
I am sure, to me was very far from being a
tempting Sight, or from giving me any other
emotions than those of Horror and Disgust. Their
Skins appeared so coarse and uneven, so variously
coloured, when I saw them near, with a Mole here
and there as broad as a Trencher, and Hairs
hanging from it thicker than Pack-threads, to say
nothing further concerning the rest of their
Persons. Neither did they at all scruple, while I
was by to discharge what they had drunk, to the
Quantity of at least two Hogsheads, in a Vessel
that held above three Tuns. The handsomest among
these Maids of Honour, a pleasant frolicksome
Girl of Sixteen, would sometimes set me astride
upon one of her Nipples, with many other Tricks,
wherein the Reader will excuse me for not being
over particular. But I was so much displeased,
that I entreated Glumdalclitch to contrive some
Excuse for not seeing that young Lady any more.