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

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

Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist (1667–1745)

AI overview

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish writer from the late 1600s and early 1700s who used sharp satire and essays to comment on politics, religion, and society. He remains important because his witty and often biting works, which criticized human nature and power, continue to be widely read and studied today.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Jonathan
Family name: Swift
Gender: male
Citizenship: Kingdom of Ireland
Place of birth: Dublin
Place of death: Dublin
Occupation: children's writer
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

P8168: Sopho Nizharadze
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.