The great English satirist Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 30, 1667 months after his father died. His mother Abigaile Erick Swift was bankrupted by the loss and Jonathan was taken by his nurse to England until he was four years old. At that time he was sent back to Ireland for a brief stay with his poor mother before being sent off to live with his uncle.
While living with his uncle he attended grammar school and graduated from Trinity College in Dublin in 1686. Once he graduated he had trouble finding a job in Ireland and so he traveled back to England, risking all in the hopes he would have a little luck. There he was hired by a British government official named Sir William Temple and served as his secretary until he died thirteen years later. During his tenure with the Temples he tutored Sir William’s daughter Esther Johnson. Many seem to believe the two were married in 1716 but the fact that the two were never alone in a room together is a strong implication that there they were never married at all.
Jonathan Swift’s Working Career
While tutoring Esther Swift wrote constantly. It is not known how many papers he wrote because he had a nasty habit of burning them after completion. The papers that did survive show signs of his developing satirical wit. When his employer died in 1699 Swift was out of a job and was forced to take odd jobs with the Anglican Church. He served variously as the Agher in Meath, Vicar of Laracer and Rathbeggan, and the prebend of Dunlavin. Often he would submit writings to papers using pseudonyms to protect him from the English courts which were cracking down on satirists for slander. He became a popular writer in his hometown of Dublin, primarily because he loved to attack the English.
In the early 1700s a man named John Partridge began printing almanacs to make extra money. He challenged readers to see if they could outdo his ability to predict the future. Using the pen name Isaac Bickerstaff, Swift did just that. He wrote that he foresaw that Partridge would die of a fever the next month, on the 29th of March around 11 o’clock at night. A month later he wrote in again under a different name, claiming the prediction to be true. He even wrote an epitaph for Partridge that was so convincing the government took him off the rolls. Swift’s little prank ended up depriving Partridge of his right to vote and sue, but also gave him the benefit of not having to pay taxes.
Swift’s Writings
Gulliver’s Travels, printed in 1726, was Swift’s first attempt at English prose. Widely regarded as a children’s book, he maintained that there were hidden meanings that went over the heads of most children. He encouraged people to look into the deeper meanings of things and often his writings paralleled current events between Ireland and England.
Later on in life he would sarcastically suggest that in order to solve Ireland’s problem of malnourishment and overpopulation they should breed malnourished children to feed the rest of the population. His sense of humor faded as he aged, and Swift eventually would become insane. However, before he died in 1745 Swift wrote in his last will and testament that he would provide the funds for the creation of a Dublin lunatic asylum, claiming that no country needed one so much. Today, Jonathan Swift is considered to be one of the greatest satirists of all time.
