43 Facts About Jonathon Swift

Jonathan Jonathon 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 Jonathon Swift".

Jonathon Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gulliver's Travels, and A Modest Proposal .

Jonathon Swift is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry.

Jonathon Swift originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M B Drapier—or anonymously.

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

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

Jonathon 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.

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

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

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

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

Jonathon 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.

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

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

Jonathon Swift attended Trinity College Dublin, the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin, in 1682, financed by Godwin's son Willoughby.

Jonathon 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.

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

Jonathon 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.

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

Jonathon 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.

Jonathon 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.

Jonathon 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.

Jonathon Swift's 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.

Jonathon 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.

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Jonathon 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.

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

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

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

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

Jonathon 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 .

Jonathon 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, Jonathon Swift became acquainted with the Vanhomrigh family and became involved with one of the daughters, Esther.

Once in Ireland Jonathon 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.

Jonathon 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.

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

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

Jonathon 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, Jonathon 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.

Jonathon 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.

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

In 1982, Soviet playwright Grigory Gorin wrote a theatrical fantasy called The House That Jonathon Swift Built based on the last years of Jonathan Jonathon Swift's life and episodes of his works.