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Jonathan Swift

File:Charles_Jervas_(c.1675-1739)_-_Jonathan_Swift_-_NPG_278_-_National_Portrait_Gallery.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Jonathan Swift

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Also known as Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier, Lemuel Gulliver, Simon Wagstaff

Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist (1667–1745)

OverviewAI-generated

Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 and died on 19 October 1745. He began his work period in 1700 and continued until 1745. Swift used several pseudonyms, including Isaac Bickerstaff, Lemuel Gulliver, M. B. Drapier, and Simon Wagstaff. His notable works include Miscellanea in two volumes, A proposal for the universal use of Irish manufacture, A soldier and a scholar, A new journey to Paris, and Swift on his age.

He is associated with the genres of spoken word, satire, and English literature. His work has been referenced by 2,032 other encyclopedia articles. Swift is similar to artists such as Rudyard Kipling, Kurt Vonnegut, John Milton, Thomas Hardy, and Gottfried August Bürger. He has 1083 listeners and a playcount of 25207 on Last.fm.

Swift’s writings include quotes such as, "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Other notable statements include, "'Tis very warm weather when one's in bed," and "We are so fond of one another, because our ailments are the same."

Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Europeana Sparql, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
30 November 1667
Died
19 October 1745
Works
2259

Top works

  • Miscellanea in two [i.e.five] volumes
  • A proposal for the universal use of Irish manufacture
  • A soldier and a scholar
  • A new journey to Paris
  • Swift on his age

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Female
Origin
United States
Active from
1989-12-13
2000s2010s2020salternative popamericanaartist of the decade

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
1,083
Total plays
25,213

Tags

spoken wordsatireenglish

Similar artists

Rudyard KiplingKurt VonnegutJohn MiltonThomas HardyGottfried August Bürger

Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Jonathan+Swift">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Jonathan Swift

Quotes

  • Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
  • Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
  • There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake, though all the World sees them to be in downright nonsense.
  • 'Tis very warm weather when one's in bed.
  • Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.
  • We are so fond of one another, because our ailments are the same.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Jonathan
Family name
Swift
Gender
male
Place of birth
Dublin
Place of death
Dublin
Political party
Tories
Languages spoken
English language
Native language
English language
Religion
Anglicanism
Notable work
A Tale of a Tub
Academic degree
Doctor of Divinity
Genre
essay
Image
Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas detail.jpg
Residence
Whitehaven
Significant event
posthumous birth
Show 20 more facts
place of burial
St Patrick's Cathedral
Commons category
Jonathan Swift
date of birth
1667-11-30
date of death
1745-10-19
topic's main category
Category:Jonathan Swift
ethnic group
Anglo-Irish people
Commons gallery
Jonathan Swift
name in native language
Jonathan Swift
start of work period
1700-00-00
has works in the collection
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
writing language
English language
Commons Creator page
Jonathan Swift
pseudonym
Simon Wagstaff
maintained by WikiProject
WikiProject Mathematics
unmarried partner
Esther Vanhomrigh
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
medical condition
epilepsy
P12749
Astano
end of work period
1745-00-00
Sources (12)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

36 objects attributed to Jonathan Swift, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. He was the author of the satirical prose novel Gulliver's Travels (1726) and the creator of the fictional island of Lilliput. He is regarded by many as the greatest satirist of the Georgian era and one of the foremost prose authors in the history of English and world literature.

Swift also authored works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704) and An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1708). He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—including Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles. In 1713, he was appointed the dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swift". His trademark deadpan and ironic style of writing, particularly in later works such as A Modest Proposal (1729), has led to such satire being subsequently termed as "Swiftian". He is also credited with inventing the popular woman's name "Vanessa" through his poem Cadenus and Vanessa (1726).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jonathan Swift” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)