 Born Nov. 30, 1667 in Dublin, Ireland  Began education at Kilkenny Grammar School in 1673  Attended Trinity College  Received M.A. from Oxford 1692  Ordained in the Church of Ireland 1695 Ordained - to appoint somebody officially as a priest, minister, or rabbi

 Swift wrote many pieces of satirical literature, a biography and essays  From A Tale of the Tub- commented on the “extremism” of Catholicism and Calvanism  1697 Battle of the Books, Ancients vs Moderns  Gulliver’s Travels  1729 A Modest Proposal

 His father died a few months before he was born and his depressed mother left him with relatives and moved back to England  Suffered from Meniere’s Disease his entire adult life Meniere’s Disease - a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance to a varying degree. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo (dizziness) and tinnitus (ringing of the year)  Became senile and suffered a stroke  1742 Guardian appointed  Died October 19 th 1745

Swift is satirizing (among other things) the conventions of a travel narrative-as well as the tendency of many readers to believe everything they read.

 Gulliver’s first voyage is to Lilliput, a land of tiny people whose petty, ways poke fun at similar pettiness in England. Petty: not broad or open in views or opinions  Gulliver is captured and brought to the King, he eventually becomes a national resource and helps fight the nation of Blefuscu but after urinating on the palace to put out a fire he is sentenced to death.

 Gulliver’s second voyage, to an island named Brobingnag full of giants, satirizes England’s appetite for excess (food, drink, and sex), as well as an over- inflated egotistical, grandiose feeling of self worth. Grandiose - more complicated or elaborate than necessary

 The third voyage, to the floating island of Laputa populated by mad scientist and loony academics, satirizes the English craze for the latest technologies and scientific discoveries.  The voyage also satirizes the concept that the best solution to any problem is a technological one.

 The 4 th and final voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms (pronounced “Hwinn-ems”) is the most complex because Gulliver loses his sense of objective thought. He becomes convinced that a society of “reasoning” horses who keep human-like “yahoos” as pets is better than his home England.