Jona than swift the greatest satirist of the 18th century english enlightenment

Jonathan Swift- the greatest satirist of the 18 th century English Enlightenment 1.. Jonathan Swift 1667- 1745 - the greatest satirist of 18 th century English Enlightenmen I.. Politica

Firstly, I would like to express my deep thanks to all the teachers ofEnglish at the foreign languages department, especially my supervisor-M.A Tran Ngoc Tuong, who made so many valuable comments on eachsingle unit of this thesis

Secondly, I am most grateful to my parents for their enthusiasticsupport

And finally, I would like to thank for the English Centre and all myfriends who gave me so much encouragement during the studying

Without their help, I am sure I cannot complete this graduation paper

Table of content

Acknowledgement

Part I Introduction

I The reasons of choosing the thesis

II The aims of the thesis

III.The objectives of the thesis

IV.The scope of the thesis

V The methods of the thesis

1.1.The growth of British Empire

1.2 The Glorious Revolution (1688)

1.3 The formation of the two-party parliament: the Whigs andthe Tories

1.4 The Age of Science and Learning

1.5 Some other features

2 What does Enlightenment mean?

3.2: Some great satirists of the English Enlightenment

II Jonathan Swift- the greatest satirist of the 18 th century English Enlightenment

1 His life

2 His literary career

Chapter II Jonathan Swift (1667- 1745) - the greatest satirist

of 18 th century English Enlightenmen

I Swift’s satirical attitude toward The Church and Religion

II Swift’s satirical attitude toward the British and human beings ingeneral

III Science and Learning through Swift’s satires

IV Political life and society of 18th century Britain through Swift’ssatires

Part III Conclusion

Reference

I Part I Introduction

II The reasons of choosing the thesis

When I was a pupil at secondary school, I was extremely keen onreading picture books I liked travelling to various lands and being drown inthe colorful world of vivid characters And what drew my attention mostwas Gulliver’s adventures to the kingdoms of the small people and thegiants that were very exciting and thrilling At that time, I always wonderedabout Jonathan Swift- the author of imaginative stories and would like toknow more about him

Now, being a student, I have a chance to learn English literature Thisenables me to understand further many famous writers, especially JonathanSwift- one of the most typical figures of 18th century EnglishEnlightenment Studying about him helps me not only satisfy my curiosityfrom the childhood but also have an encyclopedic sight of 18th centuryBritain

That’s reason why I choose “Jonathan Swift- the greatest satirist of

18th century English Enlightenment” as the theme for the graduation paper

III The aims of the thesis

- To widen my background knowledge about EnglishEnlightenment and English literature in this period

- To understand much more about Jonathan Swift, his life andhis literary career as well as the main themes in his satires

IV The objectives of the thesis

- Swift’s satirical attitude toward Religion and the Church

- Swift’s satirical attitude toward the British and human beings

in general

- Science and Learning through Swift’s satires

- Political life and British society through Swift’s satires

V The scope of the thesis

In the thesis, we only concentrate on studying about:

- The background of the English Enlightenment that lasted from

1650 to 1789

- The life and literary career of Jonathan Swift

- Analyzing some of his typical satires and comparing with theworks of the others’ of his time with the aim to clarifying the main themes.

VI The methods of the thesis

- Collective method: Collecting the materials concerning thethesis

- Analysis, contrastive and synthetic methods

Part II Contents Chapter I Background

I England in the 18 th century and the English Enlightenment (1660-1789)

1 Historical background

The period from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18thcentury is often regarded as the historical background for the appearance ofthe Enlightenment in England Some remarkable events in this period are:

1.1 The growth of British Empire

England began its colonial expansion a century later than Spain,Portugal and France In the 16th century, whereas Britain was just a smallkingdom without overseas possessions, Spain and Portugal had sentexpeditions on discoveries across the Atlantic and opened the route to India.They claimed monopoly of trade with new lands After defeating Spain’sinvincible Armada in 1588, England was ready to enter the race foroverseas trade and possessions The British Empire was built partly throughdiscoveries and settlement

The first Empire:

The British Empire at first had 2 poles: America in the West and India

in the East But the stream of immigrants was directed mainly towardAmerica and was increased by religious persecution In 1620, the PilgrimsFathers landed on the shores of New England (in the Northeastern part ofthe United States, including the territories of main, New Hampshire,Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode, Island, Connecticut) Between 1620 and

1640, about 25,000 pilgrims went to live in New England And EnglishCivilization was steadily spreading

British regarded the colonies as a source of raw materials andmarkets The search for markets was the cause for the Seven Years War(1756-1763) through which England took over the control of India andCanada from France

Shortly, after the Seven Years War, the American colonies began torebel against the policies of Great Britain The Independence War of theAmerican colonies began in 1775 and lasted for 8 years On July 4, 1776,

13 British colonies in North America proclaimed their independence fromGreat Britain The most valuable part of the British Empire was lost, andthus making the end of the First Empire

The Second Empire:

In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution spread in England andturned the country into the unrivaled workshop of the world Englishmanufactures needed markets for their goods, and food and raw materialsfor their factories British shipping grew enormously Within 25 years afterthe loss of American colonies, the second British Empire was stronglydeveloping in size and in strength In the 19th and early 20th centuries,territories in Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacificwere colonized and became dependent on the British Empire It was acommon saying that “the sun never set in the British Empire”

1.2 The Glorious Revolution (1688)

The Civil War (also called the Bourgeois Revolution 1640-1648) was

a terrible experience for the British; it was a bad example; so the peopleasked the King not to repeat any action like that

Leaving France, Charles II was promised a warm support by LouiseXIV on 2 conditions:

- Not to interfere in the political arena in Europe and

- To yield certain concession to the Roman Catholics in England

Everything seemed to be going well until Charles’s death In 1685,Charles II died without direct issue and left the Crown to his brother, James

II As a Stuart King, James II inherited all the extravagance andlicentiousness of the Stuarts On the other hand, James was an extremelyfanatical Stuart, who tried to play the all-powerful monarch, regardless ofthe compromise between Charles II and Louise XIV

Therefore, James II was no more supported by King Son of Franceand he had to pay the price In the 1688, an arrangement was made amongthe top layers for James II to flee to France, leaving the Crown to hisdaughter Mary and his son-in-law William of Orange This event wasknown as the “Glorious Revolution”, marking the end of the AbsoluteMonarchy and the beginning of the Constitutional Monarchy in England.William and Mary then accepted a new constitutional settlement, the Bill ofRights 1689, which assured the ascendancy of parliamentary power oversovereign rule

1.3 The formation of the 2-party parliament: the Whigs and the Tories

From 1670 to 1690, in Britain, there were two political parties- theWhigs and the Tories.

The Whigs (also the predecessor of the Liberal Party): the name wasfirst used of rebel Covenanters and then of those who wished to excludeJames II from the English succession (as a Roman Catholics) This partyrepresented the financial and commercial interests of the town and citypeople as well as of the progressive men who didn’t favor of the oldtradition, and were opposed any interference in political matter by themonarchy

The Whigs always pressed for industrial and commercialdevelopment, a vigorous foreign policy and religious toleration During theFrench revolution, the Whigs demanded parliamentary reform in Britain,and from the passing of the Reform Bill 1832, became known as Liberals.While, The Tories was considered as the forerunner of the BritishConservative party about 1680-1830 It was the party of the countrylandowners, parson and the squire, as opposed to the Whigs The tradingclasses and non-conformists, many of who were supporters of James II,supported it

The original Tories were Irish guerrillas who attacked the English andthe name, was applied to royalists who opposed the Exclusion Bill.Although largely supporting the 1688 Revolution, the Tories weresuspected of Aconite sympathies and was kept from power 1714-1760, butthen held office almost continuously until 1830

Though the difference in their policies was very insignificant, theywere often at war against each other, which became an objection of severalfamous satirists of the time For most of the 18th century, the Whigs partywas supreme, especially after Sir Robert Walpole consolidated its power.During his long rule as Prime Minister from 1721-1724 many of thegreatest writers feared Walpole’s power sided with the Tory minorityagainst him that was brilliantly satirized by A Pope, J.Swift, John Gay, S.Johnson and H.Fielding… So, in short, the color of these two parties was So, in short, the color of these two parties wasdifferent, but both of them had no aim, but using all the means to usurp theCabinet and to control and threaten the state machine

1.4 The Age of Science and Learning

The 18th century in England was also distinguished in science andlearning At this time, London was a city of several great men: IsaacNewton, John Locke, David Hume… So, in short, the color of these two parties was whose discoveries were considered as

basic foundation for people to understand, to explain and to form their ownopinion about all phenomena of the nature and the meaning of the universe.These discoveries opened the way for the Age of Science and Learning.

Considering the philosophical aspect, in about the end of the 17thcentury and the beginning of the 18th century, the trait against the feudalismtook place under various forms, but it was said to be the struggle betweenIdealism and Materialism

According to John Locke (1632-1704), a philosopher - the first tolaunch the 18th century Enlightenment: “Man and his use of reason areevidence enough for the existence of God” Locke’s epistemology and hiscrucial rejection of innate ideas in favor of the notion of knowledge based

on external sensation and internal “reflection” helped, it has been argued, todetermine the tendency of many 18th century writers to describe theobservable world rather than offer a subjective interpretation of theworkings of the psyche Locke, as the appreciation of Engel’s: “consideringthe religious aspect as well as the political one to be the own child of thecompromise of 1688” Anyway, Locke also marked an important advance

in history for ideology; had a great influence on later philosophers;especially, many progressive philosophers of the 18th century in Francewhere Absolute Monarchy and Christianity were ruling with their crueltyand arbitrary over every aspect of life

Religious controversies about Deism became extremely ebullientduring many years at the beginning of 18th century Following Locke’sideology, the others tried to apply the reason to define a kind of naturalreligion; to propagandize some aspects of Materialism, and to be against theChurch Here, we can mention Tolland (1670-1722), Collins (1676-1792),Wools ton (1669-1731)… So, in short, the color of these two parties was From the 17th century, in Britain, the conflictbetween Christianity and Puritanism turned severe Puritanism appeared in

1564 in Britain; it was influenced by religious reform of Caving andespecially, this religious sect had an extremely strict point of view aboutvirtue This is actually another form of the struggle of the capitalist classagainst feudalism, as the Stuart, at this time, was considering Christianity to

be its state religion

Philosophical ideologies were always attached with politicalproblems Bolingbrook (1678-1754), about religion, supported Deism andabout politics, expressed his sympathy to an equal monarchy Shaftsbury(1671-1713) brought out his own point of view on the harmony of the

world, on good human nature and his moral notion as well as beautyexisting inside each other.

Along with philosophers, scientists also contributed their part to pavethe way for the Age of Science and Learning Among them, Isaac Newton(1642-1727) is a typical figure Newton, “The miracle of the present Age”

as Joseph Addison called him “had given his eighteenth-century heirs acarefully reasoned theoretical framework on which a whole range ofadditional theories could be hung.”

His “Principia” (1687) and his “Optics” (1704) suggested that therewere indeed intelligible laws in nature which could be demonstrated byphysics and mathematics, and, moreover, that the universe exhibited amagnificent symmetry and a mechanical certainty By interpretation,Newton’s heavens declared that there was order, law and indeed design increation

Largely thanks to the propagandist work of the Royal Society inLondon and European-wide advances in astronomy, mathematics,mechanics, physics and optics, natural philosophy had shed the taint offorbidden knowledge Religious mystery could be enhanced; scientificthought begun by Copernicus 150 years earlier was to be fulfilled aspopular enlightenment

His “Primped” marked a milestone in the history of Science byannouncing his theory of the law of universal gravitation And the Opticsestablished him as the founder of the modern science of optics, to this bookwas attacked Method of Fluxion, the Newton calculus which caused abetter dispute with Alibis over priority of invention

1.5 Some other features

At this time, the upper class thought that if the poor had chance tolearn much, they might change their position in the society So universaleducation was so far for future and was opposed by the upper classes on theground that it could elevate the humble people in the same position

The 18th century British society, so, appeared seven groups of people:

- The great who lived luxuriously

- The rich who lived so plentifully

- The middle sort who lived well

- The working trades who labored hard but felt no want

- The countrymen who lived and worked indifferently.

- The poor who lived and worked hard

- The miserable people who suffered a lot of difficulties

2 What does Enlightenment mean?

The 18th century marked an important turning point in the history ofdevelopment of European countries It exists in the history with ameaningful name: “The Enlightenment Century”

Feudalism, which existed in Europe for a long time, until 18th century,didn’t play a progressive role but became a hindrance for the development

of the society The capitalist class, from its birth fought strongly againstfeudal system and this struggle was extremely severe and drawn-out Theformer considered it its duty to abolish an out-of-date system And this dutywas basically solved in 18th century

During many centuries the feudal system together with theobscurantism of the Church restrained people in a completely vicious circle.Philosophers and progressive writers of 18th century from many countriesover Europe launched a powerful movement which praised reason and usedthe light of Reason to drive darkness away, to enlighten the truth, to freeideology for everybody, to broaden their knowledge and to enable them tocontact with culture, science and art The light of Reason shone every field:politics, religion, economy, philosophy, law and education and turned into asharp weapon against feudalism Engel’s didn’t forget to emphasize thatcharacteristic while appreciating French writers of 18th century to be: "greatmen enlighten people’s mind with the aim to preparing for a revolutionwhich is due to burst”

The term “Enlightenment” pointed out the progressive role of thecapitalist class in comparison with the feudal class in the Age of theBourgeois Revolution by giving the contrast between the light anddarkness Or, broadly speaking, “Enlightenment contrasts with the darkness

of irrationality and superstition dominating the Middle Ages” It is said to

be the emergence of man from his self-composed infancy characterized bylack of not reason itself but of the courage to use it, to become a subjectwith independent reasoning… So, in short, the color of these two parties was Thus the watch-word of the Enlightenmentis: “Sapere aude!” (Have courage to use your own reasoning)

In Literature, “Enlightenment” is the period lasting from 1700 to

1798 Through their works, the leading doctrines of the Enlightenmentcenter round the following categories of thought:

1: Reason is a principal tool for all humans to think and to actcorrectly

2: Man is good by Nature And man’s good nature can be brought toperfection through education

3: All men and women are born equal in respect of their rationalityand should thus be given the right to equality before the law

4: Beliefs, religions, customs are to be questioned and accepted on thebasic of reason only, not on the basic of authority, sacred texts or tradition.5: Supernatural and miraculous elements are discarded as the wholeuniverse is conceived as a rational system accessible to human reason

6: Man to man is brother-to-brother, regardless of nationality orcountry of residence

Enlightenment thinkers believed in social progress and in theliberating possibilities of rational and scientific knowledge They wereoften critical of existing society and were hostile to religion, which theysaw as keeping the human mind chained down by superstition Theenlightener-writers concentrated on humanistic studies of Man, his natureand the origin of his good and evil doings To them, vie was due toignorance which could be done away with by force of reason As a result,they thought it their duty to enlighten the people and insisted upon asystematic education for all through their works

In short, the Enlightenment movement was in fact a revolutionarymovement As it spread the idea of equality and brotherhood, it had nothing

to share with the surviving feudal ideology, a system of thought based onhierarchical and patriarchal relation among men And the American andFrench Revolutions were justified by Enlightenment principles of humannatural rights

Enlightenment in England (1660-1789)

Though England was known as the cradle of the Enlightenment, theEnglish Enlightenment was not so revolutionary as the French one TheFrench Enlighteners were themselves extreme revolutionists Theyrecognize no external authority of any kind “Reason became the solemeasure of everything Every form of society and government thenexisting, every old traditional notion was flung into the lumber-room as

irrational… So, in short, the color of these two parties was Superstition, injustice, privilege, oppression were to besuperseded by Eternal Truth, Eternal Rights, Equality based on nature andthe inalienable Rights of Man” (Engel’s) By the same time, in England, theEnglish Bourgeois Revolution had been over for a long time The politicalbackground for the English Enlightenment was the Glorious Revolution, arevolution that is characterized by compromises between the old aristocracyand the emerging bourgeoisie.

Being a period of political intrigue and increasing intellectualtendencies, the Age of Enlightenment was favorable to the development ofprose rather than of poetry

The Literature of this time was illustrated by such masters of prose asSwift, the prince of English satirist; Defoe, the father of the English novel;Addison and Steele, the creators of English essay-writing and Pope, theacknowledged ruler of the literary world of his day

The Enlightenment in England was not uniform There were twotendencies within the movement: the moderate and the radical.Enlighteners-writers of the more moderate wing, who wanted to make theworld better by teaching, include: Alexander Pope (1688-1744); DanielDefoe (1661-1731); Samuel Richardson (1689-1761); Joseph Addison andRichard Steele

Among the Enlighteners of the more radical wing who openlyprotested against vicious social orders in their social satires, were JonathanSwift (1677-1745), Henry Fielding (1704-1754), Robert Burn (1759-1796)and others

Early Enlightenment (1660-1750)

This period witnessed the birth and growth of Neo-classicism inpoetry and the transition from the Heroic style (of Shakespeare) to theprosaic style of essayists This period also witnessed the maturity in thedevelopment of the Enlighteners’ novel writing both in theory and inpractice In theory, the aim of novel writing was set up as “to imitate life; toshow the variety of human nature; to expose the roots of human vices; and

to indicate the ways for correcting social wrongs”(Fielding) In practice, thenovels by Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding providetheir readers with vivid pictures of the contemporary society described with

a down-to-earth realism

Through their works, especially Pope’s, all the essential features ofEnglish Neo-classicism are fully expressed They are:

Realism, a literary term, which comes from the Latin word ‘realist’meaning material; is the method of truthful presentation of objective reality.Realism, as a method of literary creation, also implies, alongside, realisticdetails, the description of typical characters acting under typicalcircumstances.

Defoe’s strength as a novelist lies in his realism Every novel readerlikes the air of verisimilitude (this means: everything appears under itsnature) The novel reader asks to be “taken in the described society of thenovel; and he likes it to be done well"

Defoe manages it in style, he always identifies himself with thesubject; asking himself what he should have done in his character’s place

In other words, Defoe is a master of the art of taking and keeping the point

of view of his hero His novels are often based on what he had experienced

or on real event, for example, "Journal of the Plague Year” (1722) or

“Robinson Crusoe” (1719) The impression of the truthfulness isconsiderably furthered by Depoe’s mastery of realist details

While being a typical Enlightener of the more radical wing, Swift isbest known for his satires He described the facts of life and society with apessimistic eye and with a bitterly satirical tone but honestly He attackedthe burning issues of the era; not only religious ideas; but political life andalso annoyed a large number of readers Swift made use of satire or irony asthe sharpest weapon to recount the reality of 18th century Britain

“mixture,” and is related to the Latin adjective "satur” or "replete” In theRenaissance (14th century to 17th century), as a result of false etymology,the word was confused with satyr, and so took on the connotation oflasciviousness and crude mockery In ancient times, however, it was agreedthat satires were intended to tax weaknesses and to correct vice wherever

found.

3.1 b Satire in antiquity

No strong tradition of satirical poetry existed in ancient Greece Thefew satirists include Archilochus, whose harshly critical verses date fromthe early 7th century BC, and Cercidas the Cynic The archetypes of Greeksatirical drama are the comedies of Aristophanes, written in the 5th century

BC and still performed today Satire as a distinct literary form is thecreation of the Romans—starting with Gaius Lucilius (180? -102? BC) - aRoman writer and the creator of the distinctively Roman poetic genre ofsatire Through his 30 books of verse satires, Lucilius presents savagelyoutspoken views on a wide variety of subjects Besides, there were alsoother famous satirists such as: Horace (65-68 BC), Juveniles (65? - 128?)… So, in short, the color of these two parties wasDuring their literary life, they wrote a great number of satires with abrilliant, humorous and satirical style These satires unsparingly attack

upon the follies and vices of imperial Roman society and give a vivid

description of life in Rome Many of them also reveal deep sympathy forthe poor and disgust for the wealthy Juvenal's moral indignation and bitter

irony is in contrast to the gentler ridicule written by Horace Both modes of

satire, however, greatly influence later poetry Horace is the first greatsatirist whose works endured and served as models for later writers A coolsatirist, he preferred to “comment with a smile” on such follies as thetendency toward extremes, especially in sexual matters, or boorishbehavior In contrast to the gentle pokes of Horace is the acidity in the 16verse satires of his contemporary Juvenal, who ferociously exposed the

vices of Roman society and contrasted them with the honesty andpeacefulness of small-town life Juvenal viewed murder, certain sexualpractices, imitation, untruthfulness, theft, gluttony, luxury, greediness, andfawning over the rich as sins of equal scale He protested against soldiers'brutality toward civilians His hatefulness of getting married prompteddescriptions of the types of women he particularly disliked Juvenal's thirdsatire, on the miseries of life in Rome, complains: “Our birthright now islost”; it is the source of the poem “London” (1739) by the English writerSamuel Johnson The solemn moralizing of Juvenal's tenth satire inspiredanother of Johnson's poems, “The Vanity of Human Wishes” (1749), adespairing commentary on the frailty of human reason

3.1 c Medieval satire

Satire conspicuously presents in many forms of medieval literature: thefabliau, goliardic- in 12th- and 13th-century Western Europe, a wanderingscholar who was noted for writing bawdy and satirical Latin verses, and forbuffoonery and riotous living -verse, beast fables, and dream allegoriessuch as the 13th-century “Le Roman de la Rose” and the 14th-centuryEnglish poem “The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman”,

better known as “Piers Plowman ,” which is attributed to William Lang land

In the French allegory, satire is aimed at women, the clergy, deceivers, andmixed professional types; in later English work, it is directed principally athypocrisy in the church The 14th-century English poet- Geoffrey Chaucer-,who translated part of “Le Roman de la Rose”, carried on its various satires

Chaucer's own masterpiece, “The Canterbury Tales ,” also uses satireextensively; for example, in their respective tales the Friar and theSummoned trade satiric stories insulting each other's religious beliefs

3.1 d Renaissance satire

With the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century), satire is writtenmore often in prose than in verse The great Renaissance masters of thegenre include the German poet and humanist Sebastian Brant, the Dutchwriter Desideratum Erasmus, and the Spanish master Miguel de CervantesSaver Brant ridicules a whole repertory of human types in “DasNarrenschiff” (The Ship of Fools, 1494), which reappeared in English in

1508 in a version by the Scottish poet Alexander Barclay Erasmus,speaking through the persona of Folly in his “Praise of Folly” (1509), stillmakes modern readers laugh at the customs, beliefs, and behavior of the

major social and professional types of his day Illustrations for the originaledition, by the German artist Hans Holden the Younger, reinforce themessage of the text Robles’s “Pant gruel” (1532) and “Gargantuan” (1534)are robust extravaganzas nevertheless infused with the author's humanisticideals Cervantes's great satire on knight-errantry, “Don Quixote” (Part I,1605; Part II, 1615), arraigns society for an entire gamut of weaknesses,from blind idealism to narrow practicality.

Satire appeared on the 17th-century English stage in the plays of BenJohnson and later in two masterly verse satires: Hudibras (1663-1678), aburlesque of Puritanism by Samuel Butler, and the political satire “Asylumand Achitophel” (1681-1682) by John Dryden In France, the dramas ofFoliose satirized many social and moral types: hypocrites, social climbers,cuckolds, Don Jeans, and medical impostors; his characterizations are stillmeaningful for modern audiences Moiré’s contemporary, the critic NicolasBoileau-Despréaux, wrote 12 verse Satires (begun in 1660) probingmanners and matters both public and private

A Pope; the essayist- J Addison; the novelists- H Fielding, Jane Austin;and- most notably- the writer- Jonathan Swift, whose passionate concern forindividual human life paradoxically cast him in the role of misanthrope (aperson who hates human being) Following the two classic modes of satire,the Oration or the Juvenilia, these writers either gently nudged theirsubjects, as in Mullet’s uproarious picture of life in Bath in “The Expedition

of Humphrey Clinker” (1771), or ruthlessly devastated them, as in Pope's

“Duncan” (1728-1743) Not fearing to launch attacks against powerfulenemies, they often became the victims of reprisals, as in the case of Swiftand Queen Anne, and of the French writer and philosopher Voltaire Thenovel “Candied” (1759), Voltaire's avowal of the principles of theEnlightenment, aroused official reaction because of its criticism ofpreviously accepted social and religious ideas

3.2 Some great satirists of the English Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is the most ebullient period in English literaturethat marked the appearance and the growth of a series of brilliant satirists.Here, we mention only the most outstanding names by which JonathanSwift was greatly influenced

3.2 a Rochester, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of (1647-1680), English

poet and courtier Rochester is known for his satirical wit and his libertinebehavior He was repeatedly banished from the court of Charles II for hispolitical satires Rochester's most important literary works are “A SatireAgainst Mankind”(1675), which in polished verse scathingly describeshuman follies, and his love poetry, which is both amorous and witty,elegant and tough and often shockingly frank Known for his biting wit andversatility as a writer, Rochester produces powerful satire, passionate lovepoems, lyrics, and masterful correspondence Rochester's self-indulgent lifeand his acidic humor influence both his contemporaries and later writers,including Jonathan Swift

3.2 b Dryden, John (1631-1700)- an English poet, dramatist, and

critic- is a great satirist of the Restoration

During his literary career, Dryden writes various forms of literature.Firstly, he is known as the most prominent dramatist in England in thisperiod, as he is successful not only in writing comedies, tragicomedies but

in heroic plays as well Among those, his later tragedy in blank verse, “Allfor Love; or, the World Well Lost” (1678), a version of the story of Antonyand Cleopatra, is considered his greatest play and one of the masterpieces

3.2.c Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), English poet, and a great satirist

who, modeling himself after the great poets of classical antiquity, wrotehighly polished verse, often in a didactic or satirical vein In versetranslations, moral and critical essays, and satires that made him the

foremost poet of his age, he brought the heroic couplet, which had beenrefined by John Dryden, to ultimate perfection.

Pope was an extremely intelligent man and sensitive He read widely

in English letters, as well as in French, Italian, Latin, and Greek But, as aresult of a devastating illness, probably tuberculosis, Pope became a bitterlyquarrelsome man and attacked his literary contemporaries viciously andoften without provocation To some, however, he was warm andaffectionate; he had a long and close friendship with the Anglo-Irish writerJonathan Swift and the English writer John Gay

Pope's literary career began in 1704, when the playwright WilliamWickedly, pleased by Pope's verse, introduced him into the circle offashionable London wits and writers, who welcomed him as a prodigy Hefirst attracted public attention in 1709 with his “Pastorals” Some yearslater, many of Pope’s writings were published such as: “Essay onCriticism” (1711), “The Rape of the Lock” (first published 1712; revisededition published 1714), “Windsor Forest” (1713), and “The Wife of Bath”(1714)

Pope and his friend Swift had, for years, written scornful and verysuccessful critical reviews of those whom they considered poor writers; in

1727, they began a series of parodies of the same writers The adversarieshurled insults at Swift and Pope in return, and in 1728, Pope lampoonedthem in one of his best-known works, “The Duncan”, a satire celebratingdullness He later enlarged the work to four volumes, the final oneappearing in 1743 In 1734 he completed his “Essay on Man” Pope's lastworks, “Imitations of Horace” (1733-1739), were attacks on politicalenemies of his friends

Pope used the heroic couplet with exceptional brilliance, giving it awitty, occasionally biting quality His success made it the dominant poeticform of his century, and his poetry was translated into many languages

3.2 d Gay, John (1685-1732) - an English dramatist, poet, and

satirist- is one of the outstanding writers of the neoclassical period inEnglish literature

Gay is famous for his “Fables” (two series, 1727 and, posthumously,1738), tales in verse considered the best of their kind in English His fame

as a playwright rests primarily on “The Beggar's Opera” (1728), a socialsatire that two centuries later inspired “The Three penny Opera” (1928;trans 1933) by the German dramatist Beetroot Breech and the German-born

American composer Kurt Well “The Beggar's Opera”, in various

adaptations, is still popular Gay also composed the lyrics to many songs,

and he wrote many ballads, the most familiar of which is “Sweet William'sFarewell to Black-eyed Susan.”

3.2 e Defoe, Daniel (1660? -1731), English novelist, journalist and a

great satirist of the Enlightenment, whose work reflects his diverseexperiences in many countries and in many walks of life Besides being abrilliant journalist, novelist, and social thinker, Defoe was a prolific author,producing more than 500 books, pamphlets, and tracts

Defoe is a typical representative of the mild wing His first satire “AnEssay upon Projects” was written in 1692 It is a remarkably keen analysis

of matters of public concern, such as the education of women Especiallynoteworthy among his writings during the next several years was the satiricpoem “The True-born Englishman”(1701), an attack on beliefs in racial ornational superiority, which was directed particularly toward those Englishpeople who resented the new king, William III, because he was Dutch

The following year Defoe anonymously published a tract entitled “TheShortest Way with the Dissenters”, which satirized religious intolerance bypretending to share the prejudices of the Anglican Church againstNonconformists Defoe made the savage suggestion that death penaltyshould be meted to members of dissenting churches Supporters of theChurch of England accepted it as a serious solution and considered it to benext best to the Bible But soon, they discovered that they had been trickedand ridiculed When they had Defoe put in the pillory, he immediatelycomposed a satire “Hymn to the Pillory” which his friends sang in the streetwhile pelting him with flowers

Defoe’s talent as a reporter led him to fictitious history (The Journal ofthe Plague Year, 1722) and novel writing ( Robinson Crusoe, 1719, CaptainSingleton, 1720, Moll Flander, 1722 and others )

After years of political ups and downs, he spent his last years inillness, solitude and poverty and died at the age of 71

II Jonathan Swift – the greatest satirist of 18 th century English Enlightenment

Along with those above satirists, in the 18th century, EnglishLiterature stood out another famous name: Jonathan Swift – an Anglo-Irish writer and political pamphleteer – who is considered the greatest

satirist of human folly and pretension William Thacker- an Englishrealistic writer of 19th century- praised Swift as “a great, excellent, brightand powerful talent”, being able to “grasp, realize and understandthoroughly the most sneaking thoughts of Man, expose the deceit andhypocrisy, study prudentially motives concealed utmost carefully andexpose the darkest ideas of Man.”

no surprise at the growth of the strange legends about his birth He was sent

to Keenly school where he met Contrive and, at 14, was entered as apensioner at Trinity College, Dublin When he accused his uncle of givinghim the ‘education of a dog’; he really meant that Oxford or Cambridgewould have been more to his heart’s desire than an Irish university Swift,born in Ireland almost by accident, and afterwards identified with Irelandagainst his hopes and wishes, had no tenderness for the land of his birth In

1688, Godwin, who had lost his fortune, died, and Swift was left withoutanything He joined his mother at Leicester and sought for otherconnections The most obvious was the celebrated diplomatist, Sir WilliamTemple, then living in retirement at Moor Park in Surrey, about forty milesfrom London Sir W.Temple was an urbane, civilized man; and a friend ofKing William Temple’s father had been a friend of Godwin Swift Templehimself had known the Swifts in Ireland; and Lady Temple (DorothyOsborne) was said to be a connection of Swift’s mother Swift thereforeentered the service of Temple; and became a kind of secretary Thearrangement was not happy for any body The ladies of the house ignored

or patronized the proud and sensitive young man Tat Temple meant to befriendly is certain; it is also certain that he never apprehend ed the realmeasure of Swift’s capacity and that his efforts to find for him a place in the

world affairs were not very energetic Nevertheless, life at Moor Park wasimmense value to Swift He grew familiar with public affairs and with therich experiences of his patron, and he formed the lasting affection of hislife Dependant found sympathy with dependant The companion ofTemple’s sister, Lady Gifford, was a widow, Mrs Johnson; and Mrs.Johnson had two daughters; one of whom was Esther- 8 years old; and agreat favorite with the family And Swift was charged, among other duties,with her tuition She was possibly Temple’s daughter and therefore- Swiftmay have thought- his own niece He made one effort to escape fromservitude.

In 1694 disappointed that Temple had found no place for him, he tookthe only course that seemed to promise advancement and was obtained.Temple obtained for him the pretend of Kiloton; and the fated connectionwith Ireland was resumed In 1696, he left Ireland and returned to MoorPark where he remained till Temple’s death in 1699 The death of Templeleft him no place He was given the living of Labrador, and found himselfonce more in Ireland, and alone It was therefore arranged that EstherJohnson should live in Dublin, with a Mrs Dingle, related to Temples, aschaperon Swift was thirty-four years old, and Esther; henceforth his

"Stella" was an attractive girl of 20 The proprieties were strictly observed,and Swift and Stella never met except in the presence of a third person ButSwift was soon back England, and on familiar terms with wits andministers

For the rest of his life, Swift devoted his talents to politics andreligion- not clearly separated at the time- and most of his works in prosewere written to further a specific cause As a clergyman, a spiritedcontroversialist, and a devoted supporter of the Anglican Church, as aninstitution no less important than the Crown itself; he was hostile to all whoseemed to threaten his Church- Deists, free-thinkers, Roman Catholics,Nonconformists, or merely Whig politicians His pamphlets of 1708-1709

on ecclesiastical questions show his conviction that the Whigs wereunfriendly to the Church, and when the Whigs triumphed in 1708, he knewhis hopes of preferment were vain, and returned to Ireland The prosecution

of Sachverell brought Tories back in 1710, Swift returned to London, andthe events of three years later, with all his hopes and thoughts, are set outbefore us in his letters to Esther Johnson and Mrs Dingle afterwards to beknown as the "Journal to Stella", The efforts of the Tories were now

devoted to bringing the War with France to an end Swift composed, inNovember and December 1711, 2 formidable pamphlets in favor of peace.

By this time, he had attained a position of great importance, and theauthority he possessed and the respect he received gave him much pleasure.However, recognition of his services was made difficult By doubtsabout his orthodoxy, Queen Anne became immovably hostile At last, in

1713, he was made Dean of St Patrick’s; a promotion fatal to his ambitions,for it banished him once more to Ireland His heath was bad and hisreception in Dublin was anything but friendly In October, he returned toLondon The Queen was dying, the succession was unsettled Herby and StJohn had quarreled, and there was some Aconite plotting Swift was in adifficulty, but the death of the Queen in 1714 settled the matter With thetriumph of the Whigs and the defeat of his friends, all Swift’s hopes finallydisappeared and his returned to his vast and empty deanery in Dublin

Here he found trouble of another kind His long, peaceful associationwith Stella was disturbed by a strange complication On his visits toLondon, he had become intimate with Stella who was supposed to betwenty, but probably older Swift was forty-three years old, but the disparity

of age mattered little to Herder In their friendly intercourse, she was "Vanessa" and he "Cardenas", and to her, he wrote a poem "Cardenas andVanessa"; not meant for publication; indicating that his feelings werefriendly and abstract But abstract friendship had no meaning for Vanessa,she was passionately in love, and for the death of her mother, she and hersister retired to Ireland, a step, which made Swift embarrassed

About 1723, a crisis occurred The usual story is that Vanessaprovoked Swift’s wrath by demanding to know what the relation betweenhim and Stella was What is certain is that when Vanessa died in 1723 shemade no mention of Swift in her will which names many other friends,including philosopher George Berkeley, to whom she left half her property.The truth of the matter is that we know almost nothing about the relationsbetween Swift and the two women who figure in his life, and should nottake too seriously the interpretations, romantic, psychological orpathological which have been made by some twentieth-century critics

Not the least ironical fact in the extraordinary life of Swift is that inthe end he became an Irish patriot, and attained national popularity But lifewas clouded for him by his own increasing infirmities and by Stella’sillness She died in January 1728, after making a will that describes her as

spinster For Swift, life soon became an acute torture and in a sense he wasdead before he died A tumor on the brain maddened him with deafness,blindness and giddiness.

In 1742, he felt into a condition of dementia Three years later he wasdead Dublin was hushed into silence at the passing of the strongestcharacter that ever emerged from that remarkable city Although his lastthree years were spent in gloom and lethargy, this dark ending should notput his early life, so full of energy and humor, into a shadow Swift wasburied in his own cathedral beside the coffin of Stella His epitaph, written

by him in Latin, reads, “Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, D.D, Dean ofthis cathedral, where burning indignation can no longer lacerate his heart

Go, traveler and imitate if you can a man who was an undaunted champion

of liberty”

During Swift’s life, he also had a gift for friendship Swift was admiredand loved by many of the distinguished men of his time His friendshipwith Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot, John Gay, LordOxford and Lork Bolongbroke: not to mention those in his less brilliant butamiable Irish circle, bear witness to his moral integrity and social charm.And despite the fact that he was indifferent to women through some of hiswritings, his love with Esther Johnson (Swift’s Stella) was inevitable.Whether they were secretly married or whether they never married and ineither case why- has been debated A marriage of any sort seems mostunlikely, and however it was obviously satisfying to each of them

2 His literary career

Swift is one of the English greatest writers of prose He defined agood style as proper words in proper place; a more complex and difficultsaying than at first appears Clear, simple, concrete diction, uncomplicatedsyntax, economy and conciseness of language mark all of his writings His

is a style that shuns ornaments and singularity of all kinds, a style thatgrows more tense and controls more fierce the indignation that it is called

on to express The characteristics of his prose are those of his poetry, whichshocks us with its hard look at the fact of life and the body It is unpoeticpoetry, indeed, as often as not mocking as inspiration: romantic love,cosmetic beauty, and conventional poetic language Like the prose, it ispredominantly satiric in purpose, but not without its moments of comedyand light- heartedness, those written most often not so much to divert as toreform the reader