Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

His bitter satire was aimed at the contemporary social order in general, and the policy of the English bourgeoisie towards the Irish in particular.

English family.

The writer’s father, supervisor at the court buildings of Dublin, died at the age of twenty-five, leaving his wife and daughter penniless. His son was born even months after his death.
He was named Jonathan after his father.

go back to her native town of Leicester.

Jonathan hardly saw her during his childhood. He was supported by his uncle Godwin.
At the age of six he was sent to Kilkenny School, which he left at the age of fourteen.

bachelor’s degree in 1686.
The Revolution of 1688 was followed by an uprising in Ireland, and Swift, being English, narrowly escaped the vengeance of the Irish supporters of James II.

his mother at Leicester.

With her help he became private secretary and account keeper to Sir William Temple at his estate not far from London. Sir William was a retired diplomat and also a writer.

of the housekeeper.

He taught the little girl English spelling and gave her advice on reading. This friendship lasted all his life. Hester became the prototype of Stella in Swift’s famous work “Journal to Stella”.

library, Swift went to Oxford and took his Master of Arts degree in 1692.

After that he got the place of vicar at a little parish church in Ireland where he remained for a year and a half. Soon he got tired of his lonely life and returned to Sir William Temple’s estate, where he continued to live and work until his patron’s death in1699.