1. Jonathan Swift 1667-1745

2. I. I. Life & Political Views  Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, satirist  Wit of Augustan Age  Born November 30, 1667 in Dublin

3.  posthumous boy  raised by his three uncles  a sense of insecurity during his childhood because  he had no father  his home life was unstable

4.  educated at Trinity College, Dublin  the 1689 Jacobite rebellion in Ireland  found shelter in England, under the auspices of Sir William Temple, a prominent diplomat and statesman.

5.  served as secretary to Temple for the next ten years  earned his M.A. at Oxford  ordained into the Episcopalian Church of Ireland

6.  Charged with the tutorship of Temple’s young ward, Esther Johnson, “Stella”  Temple died in 1699.

7.  moved back to Ireland, working at various posts in the Church.  In 1704, two satirical pieces -- Tale of the Tub and Battle of the Books -- earned him some renown (and some enemies).

8.  returning to England intermittently  became intimate with the Augustan wits and literary men of the day -- Addison, Steele, Pope and Congreve.

9.  Attacked on the Whigs  Switched over the Tories completely and put his skills at their disposal by 1710

10.  death of Queen Anne in 1714  the Tories fell from favor  Swift returned to Ireland  served as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin for the rest of his life  remained bitter but quiet for several years

11.  This series of works on the state of the Irish economy culminated in A Modest Proposal (1729).  Incidentally, he also found time to write that masterpiece of satire, Gulliver's Travels (1726).

12.  Death of his beloved Stella  Gradually grew mentally unstable in the years before his death in 1745

13. II. II. Major Concerns  1. Moral attributes  2. Human nature

14. 1. 1. Moral attributes  Swift was a man of great moral integrity and social charm.  He had a deep hatred for all the rich oppressors and a deep sympathy for all the poor and oppressed.

15. 2. 2. Human nature  His understanding of human nature is profound.  In his opinion, human nature is seriously and permanently flawed.  To better human life, enlightenment is needed, but to redress it is very hard.

16.  He intends not to condemn but to reform and improve man nature and human institutions, there is often an under or overtone of helplessness and indignation.

17. III. III. Style & Artistic Features  Swift believed style — Proper words in the proper places makes the true definition of a style

18.  Swift’s language:  simple  clear  vigorous  no ornaments  A master satirist, his irony deadly

19. 1. Satire  His satire is usually masked by an outward gravity and an apparent earnestness which renders his satire all the more powerful.

20. 2. Simplicity and Directness  Swift is always most unsurpassed in the writing style of simple, direct, precise prose.  He defined a good style as “proper words in proper places.”

21.  diction:  clear, simple, concrete  sentence structure:  uncomplicated  language:  economic and concise

22. V. V. Main Works  A Tale of A Tub, 《木桶的故事》,1689  The Battle of Books, 《书的战争》,1697  The Drapier’s Letter, 《布商的书信》,1724  Gulliver’s Travels, 《格列佛游记》,1726  A Modest Proposal, 《温和的建议》,1729

23. VI. Gulliver’s Travels  1.  1. Original Title  2.  2. Type of Work  3.  3. Structure  4.  4. Summary  5.  5. Character List  6.  6. Themes

24.  Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece  first published in 1726

25. 1. 1. Original Title  Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships.

26. 2. 2. Type of Work  Gulliver's Travels is a novel of satire and adventure which has four main sections, called “books”, divided into chapters.

27.  actually a biting work of political and social satire  a satire on human nature  a parody of the “travellers’ tales” literary sub-genre

28. 3. 3. Structure  Structurally, the book is divided into four separate adventures, or travels, which Dr. Lemuel Gulliver undertakes by accident when his vessel is shipwrecked or taken over by pirates.

29. 4. 4. Summary PPart I. A Voyage to Lilliput PPart II. A Voyage to Brobdingnag PPart III. A Voyage to Laputa, etc. PPart IV. A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms

30. (1) Part I  Gulliver is shipwrecked at Lilliput where the inhabitants are six inches tall, except their emperor who is taller by almost the “breadth of my nail” than any of his court.

31. SSwift satirizes war by showing how seriously the little people wage it, and has harsh words for the politicians and government officials.

32.  The parties are known by the height of their heels.  A dispute over the question at which end an egg should be broken is enough to plunge Lilliput into a civil war.

33.  Travels in Lilliput is a mini picture of modern English society.  Two parties: High Heel and Low Heel indicates the Tories and the Whigs.  Here, Swift satires the two parties.

34.  The war between Lilliput and its neighboring country about how to break eggs (big/small end)  Big end – Roman Church.  Small end – English Church.  Swift satires the party and church fights are meaningless.

35. (2) Part II  In Brobdingnag, the natives are tall.  He engages in lengthy discussions with the king, who cannot understand the lofty pretentions and vanities of the warfare; what he hears strikes the king with horror.

36. (3) Part III  In Laputa, men abandon all common sense and concern themselves with speculative philosophy.

37.  In Lagado, the flying island, Gulliver is amazed to see the scientists trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers.

38.  He ridicules  Academics ( 学术专家 )  scientists  Enlightenment thinkers who value rationalism above all else  Finally, he targets the human condition itself.

40. (4) Part IV  Gulliver visits the land of the Houyhnhnms, where  the masters: intelligent horses  the slaves: the Yahoos, filthy, degenerate human beings

41.  At last, Gulliver returns to his wife and family, but finds them impossible to live with, after having associated with the Houyhnhnms.  The Yahoos represented for Gulliver the worst to which human beings could descend.

42. 5. 5. Character List  Gulliver  Yahoos [jə'hu:]   Houyhnhnms

43. (1) Gulliver  narrator and protagonist  vivid and detailed style of narration  intelligent and well educated  naïve and gullible perceptions

44.  virtually no emotional life, or at least no awareness of it  his comments are strictly factual

45. (2) Houyhnhnms  ['huihnəm]  Rational horses  Maintain a simple, peaceful society governed by reason and truthfulness  Having no word for “lie” in their language

46.  highly intelligent and deeply wise  live in a sort of socialist republic, with the needs of the community put before individual desires  masters of the Yahoos, the savage humanlike creatures in Houyhnhnmland

47. (3) Yahoo  Unkempt ( 粗野的 ) humanlike beasts  live in servitude to the Houyhnhnms.  Seem to belong to various ethnic groups,  blond Yahoos [jə'hu:]  dark-haired Yahoos  redheaded Yahoos

48.  naked and filthy  extremely primitive  incapable of government  servants to the Houyhnhnms  pulling their carriages  performing manual tasks

49. 6. 6. Themes OOriginally intended as an attack on the hypocrisy of the establishment, including tthe government tthe courts tthe church (both Roman or English)

50.  In these fantastic tales, Swift satirizes  the political events in England & Ireland in his day  English values and institutions ( 习俗, 制度 )

51. VII. VII. A Modest Proposal  1.  1. The complete title  2.  2. Type of Work  3.  3. Essay Format  4.  4. Purpose  5.  5. Irony  6.  6. The proposals  7.  7. The themes

52. 1. 1. The complete title  A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.

53. 2. 2. Type of Work  an essay that uses satire to make its point

54. 3. 3. Essay Format  a standard essay format with :  a. an opening  presenting the topic and thesis  b. a body  developing the thesis with details  c. a conclusion

55.  In the opening, the author states the problem:  the deplorable economic and social conditions  that impoverish the Irish and prevent them from providing adequate care for their children.

56.  Before presenting the thesis, he inserts the following transitional sentence:  “I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.”

57.  He follows this sentence with the thesis, then presents the details in the body of the essay.  In the conclusion, he states the benefits that would accrue from his proposal.

58.  He begins with the following two sentences:  “I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.”

59.  He next lists the advantages, using transitional words such as secondly and thirdly to move from one point to the next.

60.  He ends the conclusion by explaining why his proposal is superior to other remedies.  Keep in mind that throughout the body and conclusion Swift makes his argument with irony, stating the opposite of what he really means.

61. 4. 4. Purpose  to call attention to abuses inflicted on Irish Catholics by well-to-do English Protestants.  Swift was a Protestant, but he was also a native of Ireland, having been born in Dublin of English parents.  He believed England was exploiting and oppressing Ireland.

62.  Many Irishmen worked farms owned by Englishmen who charged high rents  so high that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them.  As a result, many Irish farming families continually lived on the edge of starvation.

63.  Swift satirizes the English landlords with outrageous humor  proposing that Irish infants be sold as food at age one to give the Irish a new source of income and the English a new food product to bolster their economy and eliminate a social problem.

64.  Swift also satirizes the Irish themselves in his essay, for too many of them had accepted abuse stoically rather than taking action on their own behalf.

65. 5. 5. Irony  The dominant figure of speech is verbal irony  in which a writer or speaker says the opposite of what he means.

66. 6. 6. The proposals  a. The poor Irish people were forced to sell their one-year-old child for the rich people for food.

67.  b. English King allowed French King to recruit soldiers from Ireland to solve the problem of over population.

68.  c. Some politicians suggested sending Irish people to Australia to be concentrated servants because of over population.

69.  d. Swift lists some terrible scenes in the prose:  a beggar mother followed by children in rugs;  poor parents sell children  It’s a satire against the English ruling class and the cruelty of English landlords.

70. 7. 7. The themes  a. Exploitation of the Downtrodden  b. Prejudice  c. Irish Inaction