Jonathan Swift
&
Gulliver’s travels
Madli Paves
XI b
2010
Jonathan Swift
(1667-1745)
• born in Dublin, Ireland
• father died, mother left
• suffered from poverty
• Kilkenny Grammar School
• 1682-86 Trinity College in Dublin
• 1689 went to England :
hoped to gain preferment in the Anglican
Church
worked for Sir William Temple
met Esther Johnson – “Stella”
• began to suffer from Meniere’s Disease
• got a M.A. degree from Oxford
Religious Beliefs
• was a clergyman, member of the Church of Ireland
• a militant defender of his church
• 1700 was instituted Vicar of Laracor and later
promoted as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Dublin)
• attacked theological attempts to define and limit
orthodoxy
• the Church = a force for rationality and moderation
• rationis capax
Political Beliefs &
Later Life
• first a member of the Whig party
• later a member of the Tory Party
• supported the Glorious (Bloodless) Revolution
• became the editor of the Tory newspaper The
Examiner
When Tories fell from power, all hopes for
preferement in England came to an end.
He returned to Ireland “to die like a poisoned rat
in a hole”. (his own words)
Published many works, compiling tracts and
poems and most importantly “Gulliver’s Travels”.
By 1735 his MD had become more acute.
Jonathan Swift died on October 19, 1745.
Jonathan Swift’s works
Satires:
Other:
A Tale of a Tub
The Journal to Stella
The Battle of the Books
Also wrote many sermons,
prayers, etc.
A Modest Proposal
A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick
Gulliver’s travels
Pamphlets:
The Abolishing of the Christianity in England
On the conduct of the allies
The Barrier Treaty
The Public Spirit of the Whigs
Poems:
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed
Cadenus and Vanessa
A Description of a City Shower
Gulliver’s travels
Part 1 – A Voyage to Lilliput
Part 2 – A Voyage to Brobdingnag
Part 3 – A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi,
Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg, and Japan
Part 4 – A Voyage to the Country of the
Houyhnhnms
Gulliver's Travels is the story of Lemuel Gulliver and
his voyages around the world. Prefaced by two
letters attesting to the truth of the tales, the
adventures are told by Gulliver after his return
home from his final journey.
Part 3
Part 1
Part 4
Gulliver’s travels
Themes:
Symbols:
• Might versus Right
• Lilliputians
• The Individual versus Society
• Brobdingnagians
• The Limits of Human Understanding
• Laputans
• Houyhnhnms
Motifs:
• Excrement
• Foreign Languages
• Clothing
• England
Thank you! :)