"Jonathan Swift
(November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer
who is famous for works like Gulliver's
Travels, A
Modest Proposal, and A
Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist
in the English language, although he is also well known for his poetry
and essays. He also used the name Isaac Bickerstaff among other pseudonyms."
(wikipedia).
Swift is very frequently on the GRE. You should be familiar at least with
Gulliver’s Travels, "A Modest Proposal,"
and “A Description of a City Shower."
- Biography
- Works (etexts;
summaries)
- Gulliver’s
Travels
- "A
Modest Proposal"
- Full Title: "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children
of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the
Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick."
- Summary
- “A
Description of a City Shower"
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- "The empire of Blefuscu
is an island situated to the north-east of Lilliput, from which it is
parted only by a channel of eight hundred yards wide. I had not yet
seen it, and upon this notice of an intended invasion, I avoided appearing
on that side of the coast, for fear of being discovered, by some of
the enemy's ships, who had received no intelligence of me; all intercourse
between the two empires having been strictly forbidden during the war,
upon pain of death, and an embargo laid by our emperor upon all vessels
whatsoever. I communicated to his majesty a project I had formed of
seizing the enemy's whole fleet; which, as our scouts assured us, lay
at anchor in the harbour, ready to sail with the first fair wind. I
consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth of the channel,
which they had often plumbed; who told me, that in the middle, at high-water,
it was seventy GLUMGLUFFS deep, which is about six feet of European
measure; and the rest of it fifty GLUMGLUFFS at most." (from Chapter
5, Gulliver's Travels)
- "I am assured by our
merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable
commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above
three pounds, or three pounds and half-a-crown at most on the exchange;
which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge
of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value."
("A Modest Proposal")
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