Swift

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Swift

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A Modest Proposal []

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.

During his visits to England in these years Swift published //A Tale of a Tub// and //The Battle of the Books// (1704) and began to gain a reputation as a writer. This led to close, lifelong friendships with Alexander Pope, John Gay, and John Arbuthnot, forming the core of the Martinus Scriblerus Club (founded in 1713).

In 1711, Swift published the political pamphlet "The Conduct of the Allies," attacking the Whig government for its inability to end the prolonged war with France. The incoming Tory government conducted secret (and illegal) negotiations with France, resulting in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ending the War of the Spanish Succession.

Once in Ireland, however, Swift began to turn his pamphleteering skills in support of Irish causes, producing some of his most memorable works: //Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture// (1720), //Drapier's Letters// (1724), and //A Modest Proposal// (1729), earning him the status of an Irish patriot.

Also during these years, he began writing his masterpiece, //Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts, by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships//, better known as //Gulliver's Travels//. Much of the material reflects his political experiences of the preceding decade.

Death became a frequent feature in Swift's life from this point. In 1731 he wrote //Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift//, his own obituary published in 1739. In 1732, his good friend and collaborator John Gay died. In 1735, John Arbuthnot, another friend from his days in London, died. In 1738 Swift began to show signs of illness, and in 1742 he appears to have suffered a stroke, losing the ability to speak and realizing his worst fears of becoming mentally disabled.

A Beautiful Young Nymph By:Jonathan Swift (1794)

media type="file" key="A Beautiful Young Nymph Swift.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Corinna//, Pride of //Drury-Lane//, For whom no Shepherd sighs in vain; Never did //Covent Garden// boast So bright a batter'd, strolling Toast; No drunken Rake 3  to pick her up, [5] No Cellar where on Tick 4  to sup; Returning at the Midnight Hour; Four Stories climbing to her Bow'r; Then, seated on a three-legg'd Chair, Takes off her artificial Hair: Now, picking out a Crystal Eye, She wipes it clean, and lays it by. Her Eye-Brows from a Mouse's Hyde, Stuck on with Art on either Side, Pulls off with Care, and first displays 'em, Then in a Play-Book smoothly lays 'em. Now dextrously her Plumpers draws, That serve to fill her hollow Jaws. Untwists a Wire; and from her Gums A Set of Teeth completely comes. Pulls out the Rags contriv'd to prop Her flabby Dugsand down they drop. Proceeding on, the lovely Goddess Unlaces next her Steel-Rib'd Bodice; Which by the Operator's Skill, Press down the Lumps, the Hollows fill, Up goes her Hand, and off she slip The Bolsters that supply her Hips. With gentlest Touch, she next explores Her Shankers, Issues, running Sores, Effects of many a sad Disaster; And then to each applies a Plaister. But must, before she goes to Bed, Rub off the Dawbs of White and Red; And smooth the Furrows in her Front, With greasy Paper stuck upon't. She takes a //Bolus// e'er she sleeps; And then between two Blankets creeps. With Pains of Love tormented lies; Or if she chance to close her Eyes, Of //Bridewell// and the //Compter// dreams, And feels the Lash, and faintly screams; Or, by a faithless Bully drawn, At some Hedge-Tavern lies in Pawn; Or to //Jamaica// seems transported, A dreadful Sight! Behold the Ruins of the Night! A wicked Rat her Plaister stole, Half eat, and dragg'd it to his Hole. The Crystal Eye, alas, was miss't; And //Puss// had on her Plumpers p—-t. A Pigeon pick'd her Issue-Peas; And //Shock// her Tresses fill'd with Fleas The Nymph, tho' in this mangled Plight, Must ev'ry Morn her Limbs unite. But how shall I describe her Arts To recollect the scatter'd Parts? Or shew the Anguish, Toil, and Pain, Of gath'ring up herself again? The bashful Muse will never bear In such a Scene to interfere. //Corinna// in the Morning dizen'd. Who sees, will spew; who smells, be poison'd.