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Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University                Unit 27:  Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects ...



            Unit 27:  Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects: Introduction                            Notes
                                     and Detailed Study




            CONTENTS
            Objectives
            Introduction
            27.1 Textual Introduction
            27.2 Thoughts on Various Subjects
            27.3 Summary
            27.4 Key-Words
            27.5 Review Questions
            27.6  Further Readings


          Objectives

          After reading this Unit students will be able to
          •   Discuss Swift's  Major Works
          •   Explain Swift's views on Thoughts on various Subjects

          Introduction

          Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then
          for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
          He is remembered for works such as Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella,
          Drapier’s 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
          Jonathan 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, accompanied his brothers to Ireland to seek their fortunes in
          law after their Royalist father’s estate was brought to ruin during the English Civil War. Swift’s
          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.
          Swift’s family had several interesting literary connections: His grandmother, Elizabeth (Dryden)
          Swift, was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, grandfather of the poet John Dryden. The same
          grandmother’s aunt, Katherine (Throckmorton) Dryden, was a first cousin of the wife of Sir Walter
          Raleigh. His great-great grandmother, Margaret (Godwin) Swift, was the sister of Francis Godwin,
          author of The Man in the Moone which influenced parts of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. His uncle,
          Thomas Swift, married a daughter of the poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of
          William Shakespeare.



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