Jonathan Swift Neoclassical

Info

- author of supreme neoclassical satire in prose fiction

- wrote in defense of dispassionate reason

- "to cultivate reason and to be wholly governed by it"

- reason - intellectual perception and judgement that raises man above beasts

- disappointed opportunist whose frustrated ambition embittered his mind

- affected by Enlightenment optimism

- believed in cyclical rise and fall of civilized nations rather than in inevitable march of progress

Works

- The Battle of the Books - allegorical fantasy ridiculing controversy over merits of ancient and modern writers

- A Tale of a Tub - argues allegorically for reasonableness of Anglican church

- An Argument to Prove That the Abolishing of Christianity in England May, As Things Now Stand, Be Attended with Some Inconvenience - first ironic treatise; questions wisdom of abolishing Test Act

- The Conduct of the Allies; The Public Policy and the Whigs - attacked pro-war policy of Whigs

- A Modest Proposal - strategy: arouse moral indignation in audience, then turn that indignation back upon audience itself

- Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World; Gulliver's Travels - "to vex the world, rather than divert [entertain] it"

- A Letter to a Young Clergyman - advocating simplicity of language

Citations

Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greeville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.