55 Facts About Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".

Jonathan Swift was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.

Jonathan Swift was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and his wife Abigail Erick of Frisby on the Wreake.

Jonathan Swift's father was a native of Goodrich, Herefordshire, but he accompanied his brothers to Ireland to seek their fortunes in law after their Royalist father's estate was brought to ruin during the English Civil War.

Jonathan Swift's father joined his elder brother, Godwin, in the practice of law in Ireland.

Jonathan Swift died in Dublin about seven months before his namesake was born.

Jonathan Swift died of syphilis, which he said he got from dirty sheets when out of town.

Jonathan Swift's mother returned to England after his birth, leaving him in the care of his uncle Godwin Swift, a close friend and confidant of Sir John Temple, whose son later employed Swift as his secretary.

At the age of one, child Jonathan Swift was taken by his wet nurse to her hometown of Whitehaven, Cumberland, England.

Jonathan Swift said that there he learned to read the Bible.

Jonathan Swift's nurse returned him to his mother, still in Ireland, when he was three.

Jonathan Swift arrived there at the age of six, where he was expected to have already learned the basic declensions in Latin.

Jonathan Swift had not, and thus began his schooling in a lower form.

Jonathan Swift attended Trinity College Dublin in 1682, financed by Godwin's son Willoughby.

Jonathan Swift was studying for his master's degree when political troubles in Ireland surrounding the Glorious Revolution forced him to leave for England in 1688, where his mother helped him get a position as secretary and personal assistant of Sir William Temple at Moor Park, Farnham.

Jonathan Swift had retired from public service to his country estate, to tend his gardens and write his memoirs.

Jonathan Swift took up his residence at Moor Park where he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, the daughter of an impoverished widow who acted as companion to Temple's sister Lady Giffard.

Jonathan Swift was her tutor and mentor, giving her the nickname "Stella", and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest of Esther's life.

In 1690, Jonathan Swift left Temple for Ireland because of his health, but returned to Moor Park the following year.

Jonathan Swift then left Moor Park, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through Temple's patronage, in order to become an ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland.

Jonathan Swift was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor in 1694, with his parish located at Kilroot, near Carrickfergus in County Antrim.

Jonathan Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote community far from the centres of power and influence.

Jonathan Swift presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temple's service at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temple's death.

Jonathan Swift stayed on briefly in England to complete editing Temple's memoirs, and perhaps in the hope that recognition of his work might earn him a suitable position in England.

Jonathan Swift's work made enemies among some of Temple's family and friends, in particular Temple's formidable sister Martha, Lady Giffard, who objected to indiscretions included in the memoirs.

Jonathan Swift's next move was to approach King William directly, based on his imagined connection through Temple and a belief that he had been promised a position.

Jonathan Swift soon obtained the living of Laracor, Agher, and Rathbeggan, and the prebend of Dunlavin in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Jonathan Swift ministered to a congregation of about 15 at Laracor, which was just over four and a half miles from Summerhill, County Meath, and twenty miles from Dublin.

Jonathan Swift had abundant leisure for cultivating his garden, making a canal after the Dutch fashion of Moor Park, planting willows, and rebuilding the vicarage.

Jonathan Swift wrote many of his works during this time period.

Jonathan Swift supported the Glorious Revolution and early in his life belonged to the Whigs.

Jonathan Swift found the opposition Tory leadership more sympathetic to his cause, and, when they came to power in 1710, he was recruited to support their cause as editor of The Examiner.

In 1711, Jonathan Swift published the political pamphlet The Conduct of the Allies, attacking the Whig government for its inability to end the prolonged war with France.

Jonathan Swift was part of the inner circle of the Tory government, and often acted as mediator between Henry St John, the secretary of state for foreign affairs, and Robert Harley, lord treasurer and prime minister.

Jonathan Swift recorded his experiences and thoughts during this difficult time in a long series of letters to Esther Johnson, collected and published after his death as A Journal to Stella.

Also during these years in London, Jonathan Swift became acquainted with the Vanhomrigh family and became involved with one of the daughters, Esther.

Jonathan Swift furnished Esther with the nickname "Vanessa", and she features as one of the main characters in his poem Cadenus and Vanessa.

However, Queen Anne appeared to have taken a dislike to Jonathan Swift and thwarted these efforts.

Jonathan Swift's dislike has been attributed to A Tale of a Tub, which she thought blasphemous, compounded by The Windsor Prophecy, where Swift, with a surprising lack of tact, advised the Queen on which of her bedchamber ladies she should and should not trust.

Once in Ireland Jonathan Swift began to turn his pamphleteering skills in support of Irish causes, producing some of his most memorable works: Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture, Drapier's Letters, and A Modest Proposal, earning him the status of an Irish patriot.

Jonathan Swift responded with an attack on the Irish judiciary almost unparalleled in its ferocity, his principal target being the "vile and profligate villain" William Whitshed, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

Jonathan Swift returned to England one more time in 1727, and stayed with Alexander Pope.

The visit was cut short when Jonathan Swift received word that Esther Johnson was dying, and rushed back home to be with her.

Jonathan Swift was too ill to attend the funeral at St Patrick's.

However, it was long believed by many that Jonathan Swift was actually insane at this point.

Jonathan Swift went a whole year without uttering a word.

British politician Michael Foot was a great admirer of Jonathan Swift and wrote about him extensively.

Jonathan Swift is cited in the Dictionary of Irish Biography and the theory is presented without attribution in the Concise Cambridge History of English Literature.

In 1690, Sir William Temple, Jonathan Swift's patron, published An Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning a defence of classical writing, holding up the Epistles of Phalaris as an example.

Jonathan Swift's writing was so effective in undermining opinion in the project that a reward was offered by the government to anyone disclosing the true identity of the author.

In "Verses on the Death of Dr Jonathan Swift" Jonathan Swift recalled this as one of his best achievements.

Gulliver's Travels, a large portion of which Jonathan Swift wrote at Woodbrook House in County Laois, was published in 1726.

The first woman to write a biography of Jonathan Swift was Sophie Shilleto Smith, who published Dean Jonathan Swift in 1910.

Swift crater, a crater on Mars's moon Deimos, is named after Jonathan Swift, who predicted the existence of the moons of Mars.

Trim holds a recurring festival in honour of Jonathan Swift, called the Trim Jonathan Swift Festival.