Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an <a href="/facts/Anglo-Irish/6pkxMTxU">Anglo-Irish</a> writer, essayist, <a href="/facts/Satirist/7E9uP3pQ">satirist</a>, and <a href="/facts/Anglican/CDICRNVn">Anglican</a> <a href="/facts/Cleric/IzdAVmsT">cleric</a>. In 1713, he became the <a href="/facts/Dean_(Christianity)/xTKnrE5R">dean</a> of <a href="/facts/St_Patrick%2527s_Cathedral%2c_Dublin/c7W5wfyS">St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin</a>, and was given the <a href="/facts/Sobriquet/QhuggxLj">sobriquet</a> "Dean Swift". His trademark <a href="/facts/Deadpan/T7R0a4q4">deadpan</a> and <a href="/facts/Ironic/w8oHsT9Q">ironic</a> style of writing, particularly in works such as <a href="/facts/A_Modest_Proposal/fDslkT2w">A Modest Proposal</a> (1729), has led to such satire being subsequently termed as "Swiftian". He wrote the satirical book <a href="/facts/Gulliver%2527s_Travels/G2T65SUH">Gulliver's Travels</a> (1726), which became his best-known publication and popularised the fictional island of <a href="/facts/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu/AtC4wnUR">Lilliput</a>. Following the remarkable success of his works, Swift came to be regarded by many as the greatest satirist of the <a href="/facts/Georgian_era/mJ524Wsr">Georgian era</a>, and one of the foremost prose satirists in the history of <a href="/facts/English_literature/7YWg6vJf">English literature</a>.
Swift also authored works such as <a href="/facts/A_Tale_of_a_Tub/IvAdYrwl">A Tale of a Tub</a> (1704) and <a href="/facts/An_Argument_Against_Abolishing_Christianity/5VcnqlMU">An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity</a> (1712). He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—including <a href="/facts/Lemuel_Gulliver/fTVU25am">Lemuel Gulliver</a>, <a href="/facts/Isaac_Bickerstaff/clIaorwG">Isaac Bickerstaff</a>, M. B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the <a href="/facts/Satire/dqFS5vIL">Horatian and Juvenalian</a> styles. During the early part of his career, he travelled extensively in Ireland and Great Britain, and these trips helped develop his understanding of human nature and social conditions, which he would later depict in his satirical works. Swift was also active in clerical circles, due to his affiliations to St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.
Since the 18th century, Swift has emerged as the most popular Irish author globally, and his novel Gulliver's Travels is the most printed book by an Irish writer in libraries and publishers worldwide. He has influenced several major authors over the following centuries, including <a href="/facts/John_Ruskin/GL5qNpPt">John Ruskin</a> and <a href="/facts/George_Orwell/aIQhGvNh">George Orwell</a>.

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Jonathan Swift