Winstanley I

Jack Winstanley
English II
Mrs. Hardgraves
January 2, 2013

The Life and Works of Jonathan Swift

The Age of Enlightenment was a time that would go on to forever change the
world. Following the centuries long period that would become known as the Middle
Ages and the Dark Ages was a time when people started to do away with the old
views and policies of a largely religion driven world. Authors, scientists, and
thinkers from across Europe and the world began to come up with new ideas and
thoughts on every aspect of life and put them to paper. New philosophies on
everything and anything from civil rights to astronomy would begin to surface, and
many of these philosophies are still observed today. People like John Locke, Denis
Detroit, Montesquieu, and Emmanuel Kant would become very prominent figures in
this time for their views. And they would go down to become some of the greatest
philosophers of our time. However a man by the name of Jonathan Swift would rise
up to become one of the most well known figures in this time. He mainly wrote
satirical works to discus and explains his views and feelings on certain events,
people, and on other peoples philosophies. He wrote many novels over his life,
many of which are still studied today. Works like Tales of a Tub, A Meditation Upon a
Broomstick, and Gullivers Travels have proven to be some of his most loved and
well-known works. Some have even gone as far as to argue that Swifts works are
the most important works of the Age of Enlightenment. The works of Jonathan Swift
are the most important of the Age of Enlightenment due to there relate ability to the
common people, his use of satire to express the events of the time, and because of
his massive popularity.

The relationship between the Jonathan Swifts own life and his look on the
lives of the poor and common people is a rather ironic relationship. Author A.L.
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Rowse tells us in his book Jonathan Swift: Major Prophet that Swift was born
without a father but into the riches his father made over his lifetime, on November
30, 1667.(Rowse, pg 25). Immediately we can conclude that Swift was born into
money. Rowse later describes the father figure in Swifts life in saying Swift later
lived with his uncle, one of the top lawyers in Ireland working for the British Crown,
and would keep Swift in his employment as a secretary for the majority of his
youth. (Rowse, pg 53). So not only born into wealth, but raised by one of the top
officials in all of Ireland, who had a direct link to the British government. It would be
only fitting that someone born into a family of such staus have the best education
groing up, and Swift was given nothing short of it. The Victorian Webs online
biography of Swift recounts his early education; Swift was enrolled in Kilkenny
Grammar school, the best school in Ireland at the time, by his uncle in 1674. From
there he went on to complete his undergraduate studies at Trinity College and
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1686, and pursue a masters degree.
(VictorianWeb.com, Jonathan Swift: A Biography). Swift grew up living a lavish life
and receiving the top education that Ireland had to offer. This put him apart from
the majority of the people in his Native Ireland, and would naturally cause them to
dislike eachother. But despite his fame and riches, the poor and middle class in
Ireland ironically loved him in a time when those who werent hated the rich and
famous. To the poor he appeared to be the man that had the influence, the
education, the money, and the connections to help them and pull them out of the rut
that they were in. Swift satirized the British government and the poverty in his
native Ireland in A Modest Proposal in 1729. He satirized the greed of the British and
how the Irish have to sacrifice so much just to keep a little food on the tale. In the
following passage Swift proposes that the Irish should sell their children to the
British for food by saying that I have been assured by a very knowing American of
my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a
most delicious nourishing and wholesome food...(Swift, Modest Proposal pg 35).
Swift was able to connect and relate to the common people and make them his
primary audience, making him the most important writer in the Age of
Enlightenment.
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Swift wrote many different essays, novels, and short stories, all of which
utilized satire as a way to describe the events and politics of the time period. Satire
was a very common style of writing at the time that was used by some of the most
famous writers of the time like Emmanuel Kant and Montesquieu. Many people say
that Swift however made the best use of satire, and Swift put it best and stated that
"satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face
but their own."(Johnatan Swift: An Overview, Victorian Web). Despite being the
master of Satire, was slightly hypocritical with his writings. In his analytical piece on
Swift, David Nokes says that He often liked to poke fun of the rich and politically
accomplished despite being rich and a member of the high clergy in Ireland and
frequently involved with the British monarchy. (Nokes, pg 113). Swift first used his
satirical skills in his 1704 work Tale of a Tub. In this work Swift criticizes the major
religions of Europe and their constant efforts to out due and suppress the others.
Looking at his work you can see the three major characters. They were Peter, named
for Saint Peter of the Roman Catholic Church, Jack, named for John Calvin of the
Protestant faith, and Martin, named after Martin Luther who founded the Lutheran
faith (Swift, Tale of a Tub). With these three characters, Swift as them go on their
adventures in England and often has it teeter from being a tale to a digression of
the culture of the time. Swifts literary masterpiece, Gullivers Travels published in
1726, is a story that has been told a retold since its original publication. In this story,
Swift pokes fun at human nature, and also uses the story as a parody of the
travelers tales genre of writing. The story follows the travels of Lemuel Gulliver
and his encounter with the tiny people in the land of Lilliput. It mocked how people
tent not to understand and act rather arrogant when exposed to a new culture.
When discussing Gullivers Travels, Nokes states that It also is a bit of a microcosm
of the British government describing the rift between the Tory government and the
Anglican Church.(Nokes, pg. 189). In his 1704 addition to Tales of a Tub, The Battle
of the Books, a satirical short story telling of a literal battle between all of the books
in the King James Library. The books represent the authors that wrote them, a the
fight between them is them trying to win the supremacy over the others and emerge
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more powerful, rich, and famous than the others. All of these writings were fuelled
by his personal thought and opinions of each and every issue that was addressed. In
analyzing his satire, Nokes staes that He tended to lean more in favor of the
common people verses the rich, the Christians versus the Anglicans, and the Irish
versus the British (Nokes, pg 223). His distinct and heavy use of satire is how he
addressed his views of the world around him, and because it was in a light and
humorous tone, it was easy or everyone who was reading it to understand it clearly
and for it to be entertaining to them.

Over his lifetime Jonathan Swift accumulated a massive following and was
extremely popular in not only his native Ireland, and the rest of Europe. He was
hailed by many for his writing abilities and the impact his writings had on the
people at that time, and still is to this day. His writings became some of the most
famous, influential, and most commonly read writings at the time, surpassing most
authors. Whereas most other authors remained within one writing style, he covered
many different forms of writing and mastered each and every one of them,
publishing satirical stories, collections of poems, essays, periodicals, pamphlets and
memoirs. His writings were published in mass and quickly distributed across
Europe and would almost instantly gained popularity and fame or the author. In a
letter written to Swift in 1726, author John Gay wrote about Gullivers Travels that
"It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery." (New World
Encyclopedia, Jonathan Swift). He became the most commonly known man in all of
Ireland and a national figure and left a legacy to last ages. His works are still
published to this day and are often studied in colleges and universities across the
world. Trinity College as a hall named after him, and a statue in the center square
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immortalizes him. From 1976-1993 his portrait was placed in the ten pound Irish
bank note, and is often featured in stamps. The New World Encyclopedias stated
that British artist John Ruskin named Swift as one of the top 3 people to influence
him the most and that 20
th
Century English writer cited Swift as being a write that
he most admired, despite disagreeing with him on almost every political and social
issue Swift proposes(New World Encyclopedia, Jonathan Swift). Swift died in 1745,
but his stories have lived on since then. Gullivers Travels has gone under 8 major
adaptations for either T.V. or movies, the most recent of which has been the 2010
modernization of the story in a movie starring Jack Black. His other works have gone
under countless reprints with added prologues from other authors that draw
inspiration from Swifts works and influence. Writers such as Mark Twain, H.G.
Wells, and Orson Wells have all tried to replicate his style of satire in their own
writings. The Bio.com biography mentions The term Swiftian was coined to
describe a style of satire that is over the top and outlandish like that of Jonathan
Swift (Bio.com, Johnathan Swift). He successfully revolutionized and perfected a
style of writing that previously was seldom used but now is one of the most
common forms of writing out there. He left a legacy that rivals that of the great
political and philosophical minds of the time. He forever changed the way we wrote
satire and expressed it, and revolutionized the genre. Because of that, he formed a
massive popularity and left an impressive legacy behind him.

Jonathan Swift is by far one of the most prolific writers of the Age of
Enlightenment. He was able to relate to the common people like no other at that
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time, completely changed and refined the genre of satire, and left by far the one of
the most extensive legacies of any other author at the time. He was honored during
his life time and still is to this day through the continued study of and continuous
adaptations of his works. Irish Poet William Butler Yeats translated the Latin
epitaph over Swifts grave as reading,
Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.(Bio.com, Jonathan Swift)
Yeats poetically states that Swift died an honorable man, worthy of the respect he
deserves. Swift has no doubt been shown that respect in every way shape and form.
Swift remains one of the most influential writers to emerge from the 18
th
century,
and he has no doubt left his mark as being the most important writer of the Age of
Enlightenment.