Gullivers travelsJonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift(30 November 1667 19 October 1745)was an Anglo-Irish1 satirist,essayist,political pamphleteer(first for the Whigs,then for the Tories),poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patricks Cathedral,Dublin.2He is remembered for works such as Gullivers Travels,A Modest Proposal,A Journal to Stella,Drapiers Letters,The Battle of the Books,An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity,and A Tale of a Tub.Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language,and is less well known for his poetry.Swift originally published all of his works under pseudonyms such as Lemuel Gulliver,Isaac Bickerstaff,M.B.Drapier or anonymously.He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire:the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.Biography YouthJonathan Swift was born in Dublin,Ireland.He was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift(1640-1667)and his wife Abigail Erick(or Herrick),of Frisby-on-the-Wreake.His father,a native of Goodrich,Herefordshire,Ireland to seek their fortunes in law after their Royalist fathers estate was brought to ruin during the English Civil War.Swifts father died at Dublin before he was born,and his mother returned to England.He was left in the care of his influential uncle,Godwin,a close friend and confidante of Sir John Temple,whose son later employed Swift as his secretary Writer In February 1702,Swift received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Trinity College,Dublin.That spring he traveled to England and returned to Ireland in October,accompanied by Esther Johnsonnow twenty years oldand his friend Rebecca Dingley,another member of William Temples household.There is a great mystery and controversy over Swifts relationship with Esther Johnson nicknamed Stella.Many hold that they were secretly married in 1716.MaturityBefore the fall of the Tory government,Swift hoped that his services would be rewarded with a church appointment in England.However,Queen Anne appeared to have taken a dislike to Swift and thwarted these efforts.The best position his friends could secure for him was the Deanery of St Patricks.With the return of the Whigs,Swifts best move was to leave England and he returned to Ireland in disappointment,a virtual exile,to live like a rat in a hole.Once in Ireland,however,Swift began to turn his pamphleteering skills in support of Irish causes,producing some of his most memorable works:Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture(1720),Drapiers Letters(1724),and A Modest Proposal(1729),earning him the status of an Irish patriot.Also during these years,he began writing his masterpiece,Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World,in Four Parts,by Lemuel Gulliver,first a surgeon,and then a captain of several ships,better known as Gullivers Travels.Much of the material reflects his political experiences of the preceding decade.For instance,the episode in which the giant Gulliver puts out the Lilliputian palace fire by urinating on it can be seen as a metaphor for the Tories illegal peace treaty;having done a good thing in an unfortunate manner.In 1726 he paid a long-deferred visit to London,taking with him the manuscript of Gullivers Travels.During his visit he stayed with his old friends Alexander Pope,John Arbuthnot and John Gay,who helped him arrange for the anonymous publication of his book.First published in November 1726,it was an immediate hit,with a total of three printings that year and another in early 1727.French,German,and Dutch translations appeared in 1727,and pirated copies were printed in Ireland.His works Swift was a prolific writer,notable for his satires.The most recent collection of his prose works(Herbert Davis,ed.Basil Blackwell,1965-)comprises fourteen volumes.A recent edition of his complete poetry(Pat Rodges,ed.Penguin,1983)is 953 pages long.One edition of his correspondence(David Woolley,ed.P.Lang,1999)fills three volumes.Major prose worksSwifts first major prose work,A Tale of a Tub,demonstrates many of the themes and stylistic techniques he would employ in his later work.It is at once wildly playful and funny while being pointed and harshly critical of its targets.In its main thread,the Tale recounts the exploits of three sons,representing the main threads of Christianity,who receive a bequest from their father of a coat each,with the added instructions to make no alterations whatsoever.However,the sons soon find that their coats have fallen out of current fashion,and begin to look for loopholes in their fathers will that will let them make the needed alterations.As each finds his own means of getting around their fathers admonition,they struggle with each other for power and dominance.Inserted into this story,in alternating chapters,the narrator includes a series of whimsical digressions on various subjects.Gullivers travelsA possible reason for the books classic status is that In terms of storytelling and construction the parts follow a pattern:A satirical view of the state of European government,and of petty differences between religions.An inquiry into whether men are inherently corrupt or whether they become corrupted.In terms of storytelling and construction the parts follow a pattern The causes of Gullivers misadventures become more malignant as time goes on he is first shipwrecked,then abandoned,then attacked by strangers,then attacked by his own crew Gullivers attitude hardens as the book progresses he is genuinely surprised by the viciousness and politicking of the Lilliputians but finds the behaviour of the Yahoos in the fourth part reflective of the behaviour of people.Each part is the reverse of the preceding part Gulliver is big/small/wise/ignorant,the countries are complex/simple/scientific/natural,forms of government are worse/better/worse/better than Englands Gullivers viewpoint between parts is mirrored by that of his antagonists in the contrasting part Gulliver sees the tiny Lilliputians as being vicious and unscrupulous,and then the king of Brobdingnag sees Europe in exactly the same light;Gulliver sees the Laputians as unreasonable,and his Houyhnhnm master sees humanity as equally so.No form of government is ideal the simplistic Brobdingnagians enjoy public executions and have streets infested with beggars,the honest and upright Houyhnhnms who have no word for lying are happy to suppress the true nature of Gulliver as a Yahoo and are equally unconcerned about his reaction to being expelled Each part is the reverse of the preceding part Gulliver is big/small/wise/ignorant,the countries are complex/simple/scientific/natural,forms of government are worse/better/worse/better than Englands Gullivers viewpoint between parts is mirrored by that of his antagonists in the contrasting part Gulliver sees the tiny Lilliputians as being vicious and unscrupulous,and then the king of Brobdingnag sees Europe in exactly the same light;Gulliver sees the Laputians as unreasonable,and his Houyhnhnm master sees humanity as equally so.No form of government is ideal the simplistic Brobdingnagians enjoy public executions and have streets infested with beggars,the honest and upright Houyhnhnms who have no word for lying are happy to suppress the true nature of Gulliver as a Yahoo and are equally unconcerned about his reaction to being expelled Plot summary Part 1:A voyage to Lilliput Part 2:A voyage to Brobdingnag Pare 3:A voyage to Laputa,Balnibarbi,Luggnagg,Glubbdubdrib,and Japan Part 4:A voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms Epitaph Hic depositum est Corpus IONATHAN SWIFT S.T.D.Hujus Ecclesi Cathedralis Decani,Ubi sva Indignatio Ulterius Cor lacerare nequit,Abi Viator Et imitare,si poteris,Strenuum pro virili Libertatis Vindicatorem.Obiit 19 Die Mensis Octobris A.D.1745 Anno tatis 78.The literal translation of which is:Here is laid the Body of Jonathan Swift,Doctor of Sacred Theology,Dean of this Cathedral Church,where fierce Indignation can no longer injure the Heart.Go forth,Voyager,and copy,if you can,this vigorous(to the best of his ability)Champion of Liberty.He died on the 19th Day of the Month of October,A.D.1745,in the 78th Year of his Age.Thank you。