Select Board & Class

Login

Author and the Book

Author

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745), born in Dublin, is one of the most well known satirist, essayist, and political pamphleteer of the eighteenth century England. He studied at Kilkenny College and graduated from the Trinity College, Dublin.

He began his career by working as a diplomat and writer to William Temple at Moor Park. From 1696 to 1699, Swift came up with his two major works, A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books. He also wrote several essays, poetry and pamphlets.

Published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels is a satire. In this book, Swift satirises politics and human nature of the people in the English society in the eighteenth century. His work is a classic and still remains the most widely discussed work of his times.

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745), born in Dublin, is one of the most well known satirist, essayist, and political pamphleteer of the eighteenth century England. He studied at Kilkenny College and graduated from the Trinity College, Dublin.

He began his career by working as a diplomat and writer to William Temple at Moor Park. From 1696 to 1699, Swift came up with his two major works, A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books. He also wrote several essays, poetry and pamphlets.

Published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels is a satire. In this book, Swift satirises politics and human nature of the people in the English society in the eighteenth century. His work is a classic and still remains the most widely discussed work of his times.

At its first reading, Gulliver’s Travels may seem to be a simple travelogue amalgamated with fantastical events, but it is an acute satire on the lust of power of the English to acquire unknown lands. Set in the 1700s, it attacks the politics, religion, morality and human nature of the English. It presents a parody of travel tales and satirises human nature and colonialism with its witty use of slapstick and humour.

In the novel, Gulliver is a learned surgeon who gives an account of his travelling experiences in the course of his four voyages. In Lilliput, he meets miniature beings who are politically active; in Brobdingnag, he meets the boorish giants in front of whom he himself feels a Lilliputian; then, he visits Laputians who are too deeply engrossed in science and mathematics; and finally, he meets the Houyhnhnms who seem to be the most virtuous race of rational beings on the earth. Swift uses these imaginary places and their inhabitants to highli…

To view the complete topic, please

What are you looking for?

Syllabus