History and its relevance for understanding Jonathan Swift's satirical works

History and its relevance for understanding Jonathan Swift's satirical works PDF Author: Stefan Ruhnke
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638908046
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik), course: 18th Century Satire, language: English, abstract: In his great and exceptionally well-researched book Jonathan Swift. Political Writer, James Allen Downie writes that “true satire condemns society by reference to an ideal” and that “such is Swift’s satire” . This statement by Downie not only serves as a good beginning for defining satire but also hints at an important aspect that should not be forgotten in any analysis of Swift’s satirical works. Swift, as any satirist in fact, needed and used certain occasions and persons in his times to trigger his satirical writing and refer to another ideal . Because of his “fixation with politics and his temperamental inability to ignore public affairs” , his writings, and especially his pamphlets and satires, reflect prominent issues of his times. For a satirical writer who wants to expose human flaws it is, of course, essential to use examples that he expects his audience to know. It was therefore necessary that Swift in his satires referred to prominent persons or recent developments and issues of his days to make sure that his satirical messages were understood by the English and Irish readers of the early 18th century. For this reason it is important to have at least a fundamental knowledge about political, but also cultural, religious and economic aspects of England’s and Ireland’s histories in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the time in which Swift lived and by whose historical developments he was influenced. Historical knowledge about his times will certainly help to understand which contemporary problems and persons Swift thought worth satirizing and will also make it much clearer what Swift believed to be more general problems or flaws of humankind that he tried to expose using contemporary examples. Before I will point out historical references in two of Swift’s satirical works, Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift and A Modest Proposal, and show in which way historical knowledge can help to understand these satires, I want to take a look at some developments in England and Ireland in the late 17th and early 18th centuries that are essential to an understanding of Swift’s work.

History and its relevance for understanding Jonathan Swift's satirical works

History and its relevance for understanding Jonathan Swift's satirical works PDF Author: Stefan Ruhnke
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638908046
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 35

Get Book Here

Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik), course: 18th Century Satire, language: English, abstract: In his great and exceptionally well-researched book Jonathan Swift. Political Writer, James Allen Downie writes that “true satire condemns society by reference to an ideal” and that “such is Swift’s satire” . This statement by Downie not only serves as a good beginning for defining satire but also hints at an important aspect that should not be forgotten in any analysis of Swift’s satirical works. Swift, as any satirist in fact, needed and used certain occasions and persons in his times to trigger his satirical writing and refer to another ideal . Because of his “fixation with politics and his temperamental inability to ignore public affairs” , his writings, and especially his pamphlets and satires, reflect prominent issues of his times. For a satirical writer who wants to expose human flaws it is, of course, essential to use examples that he expects his audience to know. It was therefore necessary that Swift in his satires referred to prominent persons or recent developments and issues of his days to make sure that his satirical messages were understood by the English and Irish readers of the early 18th century. For this reason it is important to have at least a fundamental knowledge about political, but also cultural, religious and economic aspects of England’s and Ireland’s histories in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the time in which Swift lived and by whose historical developments he was influenced. Historical knowledge about his times will certainly help to understand which contemporary problems and persons Swift thought worth satirizing and will also make it much clearer what Swift believed to be more general problems or flaws of humankind that he tried to expose using contemporary examples. Before I will point out historical references in two of Swift’s satirical works, Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift and A Modest Proposal, and show in which way historical knowledge can help to understand these satires, I want to take a look at some developments in England and Ireland in the late 17th and early 18th centuries that are essential to an understanding of Swift’s work.

A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal PDF Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher: Modernista
ISBN: 9180949193
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 14

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Book Description
In one of the most powerful and darkly satirical works of the 18th century, a chilling solution is proposed to address the dire poverty and overpopulation plaguing Ireland. Jonathan Swift presents a shockingly calculated and seemingly rational argument for using the children of the poor as a food source, thereby addressing both the economic burden on society and the issue of hunger. This provocative piece is a masterful example of irony and social criticism, as it exposes the cruel attitudes and policies of the British ruling class towards the Irish populace. Jonathan Swift's incisive critique not only underscores the absurdity of the proposed solution but also serves as a profound commentary on the exploitation and mistreatment of the oppressed. A Modest Proposal remains a quintessential example of satirical literature, its biting wit and moral indignation as relevant today as it was at the time of its publication. JONATHAN SWIFT [1667-1745] was an Anglo-Irish author, poet, and satirist. His deadpan satire led to the coining of the term »Swiftian«, describing satire of similarly ironic writing style. He is most famous for the novel Gulliver’s Travels [1726] and the essay A Modest Proposal [1729].

A Tale of a Tub

A Tale of a Tub PDF Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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A Modest Proposal in the Context of Swift’s Irish Tracts

A Modest Proposal in the Context of Swift’s Irish Tracts PDF Author: Maria-Angeles Ruiz Moneva
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527554716
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Swift's A Modest Proposal has always aroused the interest not just of literary critics, but also of linguists and pragmatists. Within the latter approaches, the study of irony, and more concretely, the intentions and attitudes that must have guided the production of such an intricate work, have always been paramount. However, it seems that within pragmatics the analysis has been restricted so far to the 1729 work itself. In the present author's view, it is interesting to contextualise this masterpiece of irony and satire within Swift's wider writing on Ireland, an approach that remains to be carried out. Accordingly, this work sets out to analyse a selection of Swift’s Irish Tracts, with a view to tracing the evolution within Swift's literary production of his views and attitudes towards the situation of his homeland. Although different pragmatic approaches are applied, the emphasis is laid upon the contributions that the relevance-theoretical framework and its studies on irony may bring to the understanding of this particular Tract. The works selected are meant to cover and also be representative of the main phases currently distinguished within Swift's writing on the "Irish Question". It is therefore hoped that a deeper analysis of the former works by Swift on this topic will provide new insights for a better understanding of A Modest Proposal.

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels PDF Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher: Echo Library
ISBN: 9781603037228
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift PDF Author: Leo Damrosch
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300164998
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Draws on discoveries made in the past three decades to paint a new portrait of the satirist, speculating on his parentage, love life, and relationships while claiming that the public image he projected was intentionally misleading.

The Battle of the Books

The Battle of the Books PDF Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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The Birth of Modern Political Satire

The Birth of Modern Political Satire PDF Author: Meredith McNeill Hale
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192573322
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Political satire has been a primary weapon of the press since the eighteenth century and is still intimately associated with one of the most important values of western democratic society: the right of individuals to free speech. This study documents one of the most important moments in the history of printed political imagery, when political print became what we would recognise as modern political satire. Contrary to conventional historical and art historical narratives, which place the emergence of political satire in the news-driven coffee-house culture of eighteenth-century London, Meredith M. Hale locates the birth of the genre in the late seventeenth-century Netherlands in the contentious political milieu surrounding William III's invasion of England known as the 'Glorious Revolution'. The satires produced between 1688 and 1690 by the Dutch printmaker Romeyn de Hooghe on the events surrounding William III's campaigns against James II and Louis XIV establish many of the qualities that define the genre to this day: the transgression of bodily boundaries; the interdependence of text and image; the centrality of dialogic text to the generation of meaning; serialized production; and the emergence of the satirist as a primary participant in political discourse. This study, the first in-depth analysis of De Hooghe's satires since the nineteenth century, considers these prints as sites of cultural influence and negotiation, works that both reflected and helped to construct a new relationship between the government and the governed.

The Butter Battle Book: Read & Listen Edition

The Butter Battle Book: Read & Listen Edition PDF Author: Dr. Seuss
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0385383290
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Seuss's classic cautionary tale, introduces readers to the important lesson of respecting differences. The Yooks and Zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they prefer to enjoy the tasty treat differently. The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance and respect. Whether in the home or in the classroom, The Butter Battle Book is a must-have for readers of all ages. This Read & Listen edition contains audio narration.

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels PDF Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781582791814
Category : Satire
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description