Jonathan Swift
(1667-1745)
Lecture outline
1. Jonathan Swift’s life
 2. Swift’s main works
 3. Gulliver’s Travels
 4.Prose appreciation: A Modest Proposal
 5.Summary of Swift’s style
 6.Appendix: development of prose-writing in
the 18th century

Jonathan Swift
One of the greatest wits of the 18th century
 Dream: wanted to cure society’s ills with
humor
 Dual identities: born 1667 in Ireland to
English parents, died 1745 in Ireland
 Spent most of his life in Ireland, devoted to
Irish affairs, but always considered himself
English and a Tory

Swift’s reputation in Ireland

Swift as depicted on the Irish £10 banknote,
issued 1976–1993

Bust in St. Patrick's
Cathedral, Ireland

St. Patrick Hospital,
Swift’s madhouse
I Swift’s life and his career
posthumous
child (遗腹子)
brain
Disease
insane
help for the
talented
young man
aid grudgingly
(unwillingly)
Life story
Temple’s
house
at war with
authorities
“special favor”
特许学位证书
Swift’s love affair



Esther Johnson, (Stella)
educating her, forming
her character, and later
coming to love her
Love letters Journal to
Stella
Swift’s Epitaph
Swift has sailed into his rest.
Savage indignation there
cannot lacerate(割裂) his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
world-besotted(痴迷的) traveller.
He served human liberty.
---translated by W. B. Yeats from
Latin
Epitaph in St. Patrick's
Cathedral, Dublin near
his burial site.
II Swift’s Works
(1)A Tale of a Tub
(2) The Battle of Books
1704
1704
in the form of
an attack on
a parable(寓言故事)
pedantry(买弄学问)
a satire upon all religious sects
an attack on Christianity itself
Bickerstaff Almanac (比克斯塔夫先生的历书) 1708
(3) Predictions for the Year 1708《对1708的预言》
(4) Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff
《比克斯塔夫先生第一个预言的应验》
(5) Gulliver’s Travels (1706)
Gulliver’s Travels
Part I: to Lilliput

satirized the contention (争夺)
for power and profits among
the English political parties and
the religious groups through
the description of the dispute
concerning the issues of
‘wearers of high/low heels’ and
‘breaking of big/small end of an
egg’.
Quotes
“Should eggs be broken at the big end or
the little end? “
 “This, however, is thought to be a mere
strain upon the text, for the words are these,
that all true believers shall break their eggs
at the convenient end. And which is the
convenient end seems, in my humble
opinion, to be left to every man’s conscience,
or at least in the power of the Chief
Magistrate(法官) to determine”.

Parliamentary Parties
Tories: for a strong king, tended to be
Anglicans & landless nobles (who got their
titles from the king)
 Whigs: for a strong Parliament, tended to be
Anglicans who supported religious freedom,
as well as merchants and lawyers; also
included Puritans
 Part one is a satire on the Tories and the
Whigs

More pictures in Lilliput

Part 2: to Brobdingnag (大人国)

accused the English corrupt politics and
jingoism (侵略主义) through the kings’ words
in Brobdingnag (大人国).
a satire on English lords and ladies

More pictures in Brobdingnag
Part 3: to Laputa (Flying Island)

satirized the ivory-towered
(脱离实际的) research
work of English
philosophers and
projectors through
description of the projects
(e.g. extracting sunbeam
out of cucumbers, turning
ice into gunpowder, and
making cloth from cobweb
蜘蛛网) in the flying island.
Gulliver and headstrong scientist
Part 4: to the country of the Houyhnhnms
 ‘Yahoo’ – the appellation of human
being
 a satire on the conflicts of English
society
“To mend the world”
Summary of Gulliver’s Travels
The first two books are children’s
favorite.
 Air of authenticity and realism:
contemporaries believed them to be true

Pamphlets on Ireland: Irish Series
(6) The Drapier’s Letters
《一个麻布商的书信》（1724）
(7) A Modest Proposal
《一个小小的建议》 （1729）
Denounce the cruel and unjust
treatment of Ireland by the English
government and stir up the Irish people to fight.
Pamphlets on Ireland earned him the
status of an Irish.
 Quote:
 “Am I a free man in England and do I
become a slave in six hours by crossing the
Channel?”

“A Modest Proposal”
Protested English economic & political
domination of Ireland
 Whigs imposed harsh conditions to support
the few English Protestants who lived in
Ireland
 Catholics could not buy land
 English Parliament claimed right to legislate
for Ireland

III Close reading of text
A Modest Proposal

What is the identity of the persona “I” in
the essay? What’s the apparent purpose
of his proposal?
a projector
“for preventing the children of poor people in
Ireland from being a burden to their parents
or country, and for making them beneficial to
the public” (P.1)
 What
has stimulated the persona
to make his proposal?
“a melancholy object” in Ireland.
beggars, and jobless men, (thieves, slaves)
(Para. 1)
“children has been a burden”
to find a fair, cheap and easy method”. (Para.
2)

How does the persona evaluate his own proposal?
1) It is of a much greater extent: “far from being
confined to provide only for the children of
professed beggars” (para. 3)
2) a considerate and thoughtful proposal. “having
turned my thoughts for many years upon this
important subject, and maturely weighted the
several schemes of other projectors” (para. 4)
3) prevention of bloody murdering: to prevent
women’s voluntary abortions; (para. 5)

What kind of proposal does the persona
make? State the content of the proposal.
to sell the infants at the age of one year old,
for the flesh at this age is a most delicious,
nourishing, and wholesome food, whether
stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled, and I
make no doubt that it will equally serve in a
fricassee or a ragout.

Why does the projector propose to sell
infants instead of children at the age of 12?
1) children are sold at the age of 12, but their parents can
get 3 pounds, that is too cheap. A one-year-old infant can
be sold for 10 shillings. Their parents get 8 shillings as net
profit---enough to give birth to a second baby---in terms of
the parents.
2) infant food is precious suitable to entertain friends for the
persons of quality and fortune----in terms of the landlords
3) to reduce the number of Catholics in Ireland.
4) to reconcile the relationship between the landlords and
the tenants. ----in terms of the government
5) to provide more job vacancy: shambles; ----in terms of
the society

What is the author’s real intension? How
about its tone?
to satirize the ruthlessness and hypocrisy
of the ruling class and show great sympathy
to the poor people in an ironic tone

In what kind of techniques does the
author utilize to achieve the effect?
Wording in irony:
1) Direct satire: I grant this food will be somewhat dear,
and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they
have already devoured most of the parents, seem to
have the best right to the children.
2) Indirect satire: thus the squire will learn to be a good
landlord, and grow popular among the tenants. --Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the
times require)…
more examples: professed beggars; for the “carcass”
of a good fat child; fore or hind quarter; dam; ---to
satirize that the infants are merely animals in the eyes
of the ruling class.
Rhythm as whole
3) The whole prose goes calmly and logically
to utter the projector’s cool-headed
statement. It is the cool-headedness that
demonstrates his cruelty inward.
How do you think of the ending?
Is it forceful?
The end is forceful enough to reinforce
the satire against the upper class.
Apparently, the projector doesn’t intend
to acquire any profit for his own interests,
yet in essentially, he won’t sacrifice anything
in this proposal.

How to translate and interpret the title of the
essay? Is it a modest proposal?
“一个小小的建议”
However, the proposal is not modest at all, on the contrary,
it is bloody and devouring.
Proper words in proper places, make the
true definition of a style.
-------Jonathan Swift
IV Swift’s style
One of the greatest masters of English
prose;
 simple, clear, vigorous language;
 simple, direct and precise prose;
 a master satirist;
 powerful satire.
 deadly irony;

Swift on Satire
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein
beholders do generally discover
everybody's face but their own.
Appendix: Development of Prosewriting in the 18th Century



The appearance of coffee-houses stimulated the
development of paper and style of prose-writing.
Richard Steele started the first paper “The Tatler”
(an issue of 3 times a week) in 1709.
Steele and Joseph Addison collaborated “The
Spectator” during 1711-12---the first daily paper--supposed to be edited by a small club headed by
Mr. Spectator, a man of travel and learning.
Joseph Addison
(1672-1719)
Richard Steele
(1672-1729)
 Their
careers run parallel courses
Both attend the same school and university
Both enjoy the patronage of the Great
Whigs
Both serve government and get official
positions
Both are political writers and newspaper
editors
Significance of “The Spectator”
 The essays in the paper deal mainly with the
manners, morals and literature of the time.
the object is to enliven morality with wit, and
to temper wit with morality.
 Another feature is the character sketches of
Mr. Spectator, a type of a new culture.
Character sketches are the forerunner of the
modern English novel.

In general
 Their writings shape a new code of social
morality for the bourgeoisie.
 They give a true picture of the social life of
England in the 18th century.
 In the hands of Addison and Steele, the
English essay had completely established
itself as a literary genre. They ushered in
the dawn of the modern novel.