Jonathan Swift: life, works, and literary influence

Jonathan Swift was born in the year 1667 in Dublin, Ireland, the only son and the second child of his parents Jonathan Swift and Abigail Erick Swift. Since the father died even before the child Jonathan was born, he was educated by other relatives, and by the year 1686, he graduated from the Trinity College of Education in Dublin, after which he traveled to England. Jonathan subsequently became a tutor for the ward of Sir William, who was a very influential person of his time, and was also a powerful person. Jonathan Swift, it has been said, wrote quite proliferously during this period, in between tutoring sessions, but, sadly almost everything was destroyed or burnt and whatever managed to survive does not reveal in any way the great satirist that he was destined to become later. (Jonathan Isaac Bickerstaff Swift: (1667-1745))

The work, 'Gulliver's Travels, was published in 1726, and was one of the first works of prose attempted by Jonathan, and although the work was labeled as a children's book, it is in reality a great satire on the times of the day, which most children have failed to understand down the ages. This book, in fact, shows Jonathan's desire to make people delve deeper into issues, and not lie back and take everything for granted, as people did in those days, and when any one reader was indeed able to read deeper into the book, it was possible for him to match all the situations within the book with real current events and affairs and several long-term problems that had been re-occurring in the society.

In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote 'A Modest Proposal', a work that was supposedly written by a so-called 'intelligent and objective political mathematician', who had supposedly studied Ireland carefully and well before coming up with the 'modest' proposal. In the book Jonathan suggest one single excellent solution for two major problems of the day, one of the burgeoning population, and another, of the growing population of undernourished people in the country. What he suggested was preposterous: that one must breed those children who would otherwise go hungry, or, be ready to be mistreated so that the general public could be fed and nourished adequately. (Jonathan Isaac Bickerstaff Swift: (1667-1745))

Jonathan Swift was an individual, who had played many roles within his lifetime such as, for example, as a politician and a patriot, as a satirist, and as a clergyman. Jonathan had in fact been quite excited and animated by a hatred of the existing empire and the oppression that it brought with it, hand in hand, and maybe today this would be referred to as 'radical thinking', but in those days it did not have a specific term or name. This outlook and opinion of Jonathan Swift can be seen in his work "A Modest Proposal," an overtly political work, and also in 'Genteel and Ingenious Conversation' a satire on the politics of the time. Swift has tried to convey the thought that once the connotations of the party are left behind, then, as he described in the latter work, the contemporary taste and customs may look ridiculous, and Jonathan Swift made a mockery of these customs. (Dean Swift: The Politics of Satire)

However, if one were to state that Jonathan Swift would appeal to radicals, then that would be a great historical irony. This irony, and the real gap in perception that it reveals, became open to discussion primarily because of the fact that Swift's political configurations within his works had actually become completely meaningless towards the beginning of the eighteenth century. Jonathan Swift was, at one point of time, even dammed and condemned as being a Tory, and it was widely stated that nothing about him could possibly serve as inspiration towards political thinking and progressive thoughts and actions. (Dean Swift: The Politics of Satire)

As a satirist, Jonathan Swift was one of the better prose satirists in the English language, and is perhaps one of the better satirists of the entire world. In August 1725, Jonathan Swift wrote to his friend, Charles Ford, that he had finished his Travells, and that he was in the process of transcribing these travels, and also that they were in fact 'wonderful things' that were innately capable of mending the world. At that time, Jonathan was about fifty-seven years old, and felt that he had seen enough of the world until then that he thought that the various human emotions of pride, jealousy, cruelty, and falsehoods were enough for an individual to really need the medicinal value that satire would be able to offer them, so that they may be able to overcome the debilitating effects of these human emotions successfully, without bringing about harm to any person. (Biography of Jonathan Swift)

Swift wrote to Alexander Pope, "I do not hate Mankind," and it was others who really and truly hated them. In fact, he stated, Human beings are a kind of animal, and therefore, they have an innate right to become 'Angry' if they are disappointed by something or someone. Jonathon swift also said that if Gulliver's Travels did not have the desired impact of mending mankind, as he had indeed hoped at an earlier point of time that it would, then it had certainly had the impact of challenging the superior attitude that quite a few people of the time possessed regarding their various political and social institutions, and they were also assured that they were in a very superior position in the 'Chain of Being', and would therefore be immune against any impact that their thoughts would have on society in general.

However, Jonathan Swift stated, he would much rather that he 'vexed' the world, than 'divert it'. At this point, it must be stated that the work, Gulliver's Travels, right from the time of its first publication in the year 1726, has managed to both charm its readers through the generations, and has also inspired more adaptations and illustrations and answers than any other work that was published at that time, and it has also been a subject of intense criticism and scrutiny through the years on the exact and precise nature of the work, its moral attitudes and tendencies, its satire and so on, and from the years 1945 and 1985, more than five hundred books and articles were devoted to the Gulliver's Travels, and the basic classification of the work as either a satire or a voyage or a moral allegory, or a plain and simple children's tale, is being debated even today, and will probably do so for the rest of time. (Biography of Jonathan Swift)

Jonathan Swift has also played the role of a clergyman, and he was a member of the Church of Ireland and a clergyman as well, and he was also a sort of militant defender of his own Anglican Church. This is because, at that time, there was a very real threat against Roman Catholicism in Ireland, his home at the time, which was for the most part Catholic, and this was a controversy that was raging even in England at the time. Jonathan Swift and all his friends and his peers saw Catholics as a threat to not only the Anglican Church, but also to the very Constitution of England. Since Jonathan Swift was a conservative by nature, whenever he needed some sort of constancy and stability in his life, he instinctively turned to either religion or to politics, but, however, this stability had to ensure his personal freedom and not hinder it. (Jonathan Swift's Religious Beliefs)

As far as he was actually concerned, the various issues of religion, politics, and morality were inseparable, and one could never attempt successfully to define and therefore to limit orthodoxy, and Jonathan felt that it would be these attempts that would eventually to the phenomenon of anarchic dissent. He also stated that it was the divisive tendencies that humankind exhibited that was leading to the ultimate degradation of the very basic tenets of Christianity, like for example, the principles inherent in Christianity like its simplicity, coherence, and its clarity, and the mishandling of the Truth by human beings had led to the corruption of the Anglican Church to which he himself belonged, and because he had been brought up to respect it and also to adhere to its rules, and at the same time because the Church of Ireland was a Church suited to his own class, and since he knew that his own ambitions for his success were intermingled with the success of the Church, he must, out of necessity, support the Anglican church. However, as one critic put it, underneath all the orthodoxy and the religious conservatism being demonstrated by Jonathan Swift, he was in fact a radical at heart, and he therefore believed in the saying that God had created Man as an Animal who was not at all completely rational; he was only capable of behaving reasonably on certain occasions. It is obvious therefore, that Jonathan Swift concerned himself with, primarily, the moral and the religious and the social and political aspects of human nature, and not with the metaphysical and the abstract side of human beings. (Jonathan Swift's Religious Beliefs)

Nowhere did Jonathan Swift show his capacity for satire than in his work, 'A Modest Proposal', 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. Jonathan mentions within this work, "the streets, the roads, the cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by there, four, or sic children," and these children, he stated, would all be dressed in rags, and, being hungry and starving, beg for food to fill their stomachs. Their mothers, too, would be forced to stroll through the streets, in search of alms, so that they may feed their infants and children. These poor deprived children would, inevitably, become thieves as they became older, for want of any other work. Otherwise, Jonathan says, they would leave their dear native country, and then have to fight for the 'Pretender' in Spain, or even have to ultimately sell themselves to the 'Barbadoes'. (a Modest Proposal)

Thereafter, Jonathan goes on to state his own solution to this grave problem, after having thought about it very seriously indeed for a great number of years, and given the number of 'breeders, or in other words, women, there would be at the very least, a hundred and twenty children born to parents who are much too poor to provide sustenance and bring them up in the manner that they deserve to be brought up. A "young healthy child...a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food," whether the child has been roasted or stewed, or boiled or even baked, would be an excellent meal, and would be able to provide sustenance for those poor parents who have to beg on the streets for food, according to Jonathan's American friend. This would serve to be an excellent idea for those landlords, he says, who have already 'devoured' most of the parents, and would therefore not hesitate to devour the children of these unfortunate parents, and pay a good price for such nourishing "food," in the bargain. The 'skin' and other body parts of the child would also be useful, because it can be used for making gloves and hats and other accessories for "fashionable ladies," and also make summer boots for "gentlemen." (a Modest Proposal)

When Jonathan Swift states that an American acquaintance of his had recommended that a "young, healthy Child, well nursed, is at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food," one does not know whether to laugh, or to cry, at this prospect of actually eating a well-fed baby, a human child, when it is but one-year-old. The laughter cannot be said to be a funny or a humorous appreciation; rather, it is about a sense of release, and, in fact, Jonathan Swift himself stated that all he wanted to or desired to do was to "vex the world rather than divert it." (Have you Eaten Yet? The Reader in a modest proposal) This satirical essay by Jonathan Swift is grotesque and horrifying, and the satire within it touches the soul of the reader in its simplicity as well as its complexity rolled into one. The feeling that it brings in to the reader is one of unease and extreme discomfort, and not any type of pleasure or joy. It is, unsettling and disconcerting and upsetting, and when the reader feels that he cannot possibly take any more, Jonathan swift goes on to detail the various culinary methods in which the infant can be cooked before he is eaten. (Have you Eaten Yet? The Reader in a modest proposal)

What Jonathan Swift attempts to do is to induce an awareness among people, of the state of the poor in their own country, where the rich and tyrannical landlords have all but eaten up the poor, and he states at the very beginning that he is in fact giving a 'modest proposal' wherein the idea is "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." (Jonathan swift: Description of a City Shower and a modest proposal) Jonathan Swift therefore satirically promotes and encourages the eating, after cooking them, the one-year-old, healthy and well-fed children, and the primary purpose being to eliminate the growing number of poor people in Ireland. The usage of a certain kind of savage irony by Jonathan Swift indicates the level of anguish and frustration that he must have felt towards the poor of his country, at the time of writing the essay, especially when he advocated the consumption of tiny babies, so that the problem of the poor could be solved with ease, an everyone involved, including the parents, the rich landlords, and 'gentlemen' would be able to reap benefits form this dubious scheme of eating their own children. Maybe, critics feel, Jonathan Swift saw fit to utilize this type of irony to depict the inhuman conditions that the colonized Irishmen were living in at the time, as well.

Part of the effect of the satire in the essay works so very well because of the fact that it works fully and thoroughly on the basic metaphor used, that is, the eating of small babies, in the essay, and how all the various propositions are built up on this one single metaphor alone. In fact, the metaphor can be directly related to the state of affairs in Ireland, wherein the English devouring innocent sweet babies can be compared to the way in which the several wealthy but absentee landlords were continuing to devour and ruin the Irish economy. Therefore, the metaphor can be literalized, or, in other words, the butchery, and the sale and the final consumption of the 'product' are worked out in figures and statistics by the author, and this strategy adopted by Jonathan Swift had been used by Jonson in 'Volpone', and also by More in 'Utopia', wherein satire was used to discuss the welfare of the society in which he lived. (Jonathan swift: Description of a City Shower and a modest proposal)

This masterful satire by Jonathan Swift, entitled "A Modest Proposal," mocks at man, and at the rich, and also, mockingly, and sardonically proposes to solve the problems being faced by the common man in Ireland by selling the excessive numbers of children that poor parents tended to produce, and who would be reduced to begging on the streets form a tender age, or to thievery and robbery at a slightly older age, by selling these children to the rich people, who would enjoy them as a 'meal'. The narrator or the projector recounts the many ways in which they may be eaten, and treats them as being of no more than livestock. However, towards the end of the essay, Jonathan Swift attempts to state the numerous ways and means in which the country may be helped form its current dismal position of extreme poverty into something better, and these reforms change their tone, because of the fact that while the earlier modest proposal was meant for the poor, so that they may be better off if they were to sacrifice their own children, here the rich would have to sacrifice at least some of the luxuries and comforts that they had been used to all their lives. (Satire and Significance in Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal")