Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, Anglican cleric, and the mind behind *Gulliver's Travels* (1726), the novel that introduced the tiny island of Lilliput. He is widely considered the finest satirist of the Georgian period and a major figure in English and world prose.

Swift also wrote *A Tale of a Tub* (1704) and *An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity* (1708). He never put his own name on his work, instead using pseudonyms—Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, and M. B. Drapier among them—or publishing anonymously. He worked in both Horatian and Juvenalian satire. In 1713 he became dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, earning the nickname “Dean Swift.” His deadpan, ironic style, especially in later pieces like *A Modest Proposal* (1729), gave rise to the term “Swiftian” for that kind of satire. He also invented the woman’s name “Vanessa” in his poem *Cadenus and Vanessa* (1726).

Early in his career, Swift traveled widely across Ireland and Great Britain, experiences that sharpened his grasp of human nature and social conditions, which he later turned into satirical targets. He was active in clerical circles through his role at St Patrick’s Cathedral. He supported the Glorious Revolution and initially aligned with the Whigs. His family connections included John Temple, John Dryden, William Davenant, and Francis Godwin. In 1700 he moved to Trim, County Meath, where he wrote many of his major works. Those writings often reflected his political experiences from the previous decade, especially his dealings with the British Tory government. Scholars believe his use of pseudonyms—Isaac Bickerstaff being the most famous—may have shielded him from persecution in the politically charged climates of England and Ireland.

Since the late 1700s, Swift has been one of Ireland’s most globally popular authors. *Gulliver’s Travels* remains a classic of world literature and is the most frequently printed book by an Irish writer in libraries and bookshops worldwide. Ireland honors him with streets, monuments, festivals, and tourist sites. His influence extends to later writers such as John Ruskin and George Orwell.

**Biography**

**Early life**

Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland, the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and Abigail Erick (or Herrick) of Frisby on the Wreake in Leicestershire. His father, from Goodrich, Herefordshire, had moved to Ireland with his brothers to practice law after their royalist father’s estate was ruined in the English Civil War. His maternal grandfather, James Ericke, was vicar of Thornton in Leicestershire, but was convicted of Puritan practices in 1634 and fled to Ireland with his family, including young Abigail.

Swift’s father joined his elder brother Godwin in legal work in Ireland. He died in Dublin about seven months before his son’s birth, of syphilis, which he blamed on dirty sheets while traveling. After the birth, Swift’s mother returned to England, leaving him with his uncle Godwin Swift, a close friend of Sir John Temple (whose son later employed Swift as a secretary). At age one, Swift was taken by his wet nurse to her hometown of Whitehaven, Cumberland, where he learned to read the Bible. His nurse returned him to his mother in Ireland when he was three.

The family had literary ties. His grandmother Elizabeth (Dryden) Swift was niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, grandfather of poet John Dryden. Her aunt Katherine (Throckmorton) Dryden was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great-grandmother Margaret (Godwin) Swift was sister of Francis Godwin, whose *The Man in the Moone* influenced *Gulliver’s Travels*. His uncle Thomas Swift married a daughter of poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, rumored to be a godson of William Shakespeare.

Uncle Godwin Swift sent him, at age six, to Kilkenny College (also attended by philosopher George Berkeley). He was expected to know basic Latin declensions but did not, so he started in a lower form. He left the school in 1682 at age 15. He entered Trinity College Dublin that same year, financed by Godwin’s son Willoughby. The four-year course, largely medieval in design for the priesthood, focused on Aristotelian logic and philosophy, with debate as the core skill. Swift was above average but not exceptional, earning his B.A. in 1686 “by special grace.”

**Adult life**

Swift was studying for his master’s degree when the Glorious Revolution stirred political troubles in Ireland, forcing him to leave for England.