The Life of Jonathan Swift

Presents a fresh account of the life history and creative imagination of Jonathan Swift Classic satires such as Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal, and A Tale of a Tub express radical positions, yet were written by the most conservative of men. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin and spent most of his life in Ireland, never traveling outside the British Isles. An Anglo-Irish Protestant clergyman, he was a major political and religious figure whose career was primarily clerical, not literary. Although much is known about Swift, in many ways he remains an enigma. He was admired as an Irish patriot yet was contemptuous of the Irish. He was both secretive and self-dramatizing. His talent for friendship was matched by his skill for making enemies. He hated the English but yearned to live in England. The Life of Jonathan Swift explores the writing life and personal history of the foremost satirist in the English language. Accessible and engaging, this critical biography brings Swift’s writing and creative sensibility into the narrative of his life. Author Thomas Lockwood provides the historical and modern critical context of Swift’s prose satires and poetry, as well as his political journalism, essays, manuscripts, and personal correspondence. Throughout the book, biographically contextualized descriptions of Swift’s most famous works help readers better understand both the writing and the writer. Provides critical profiles of Gulliver’s Travels, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Drapier’s Letters, and Swift’s other famous works Offers insights into Swift’s relationships with Esther Johnson, “Stella,” and Esther Vanhomrigh, “Vanessa” Highlights Swift’s poetry and how verse writing was a vital part of his creative being Summarizes and contextualizes lesser-known works such as The Conduct of the Allies Addresses the historic critical bias against comedy or satire as inferior forms of art, both in Swift’s lifetime and the present The Life of Jonathan Swift is an essential resource for general readers of literature and literary biography, university instructors and researchers, and undergraduate students taking courses in English literature.

Abbreviations and Texts viii Preface x 1 Brought over to Ireland in a Band-Box 1667 - 1689 1 2 Moor Park 1689 - 1692 12 3 Into the Church, Without Being Driven 1692 - 1698 26 4 Laracor and London 1698 - 1704 38 5 A Tale of a Tub 1704 56 6 Arguments about Christianity 1704 - 1709 80 7 Writing for Power 1709 - 1712 98 8 The Life of a Spider 1711 - 1712 113 9 Journal to Stella 1710 - 1713 129 10 Preferment, Barely 1712 - 1714 144 11 But Why Obscurely Here Alone? 1713 - 1714 159 12 Living Out of the World 1714 - 1718 176 13 Second Wind 1719 - 1723 194 14 Mr. Drapier 1723 - 1725 217 15 Several Remote Nations 1721 - 1726 233 16 Poor Floating Isle 1726 - 1729 256 17 Market Hill 1728 - 1730 278 18 A Kind of Knack at Rhyme 1730 - 1733 298 19 We Are All Slaves and Knaves and Fools 1732 - 1735 315 20 Drawing Room and Back Stairs 1735 - 1736 339 21 Silence 1737 - 1745 358 Notes 381 Bibliography 435 Index 445