Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)Britain’s greatest satiristWas born in Ireland—November 30,1667Hoped for a career in politics, but went into

religion instead.Returned to Ireland-became a minister-

unhappy as a parish ministerDean of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Dublin for

30 yearsWrote many political pamphlets on the Irish

Satirist

Wrote satire: particularly politicalused irony and exaggerationangry, bitter satire

Accused of being a misanthrope—a hater of mankind, but he did see hope in mankind—sees man as flawed, but capable of improving

In 1726 he wrote Gulliver’s Travels. It was an instant success, selling 10,000 copies in the first three weeks.

Gulliver’s Travels

Everyone read itAppeals to all—read from many different

levels Children’s story Travel narrative Adventure story Adult satire

Satire: humorous writing to bring about reform of human behavior or institutions

Roman a clef: satire against people—characters represent real people

Ancient Satirical Device: Imaginary Voyage and Travel Narrative

Travel adventures usually describe a “new place”

In the description reader becomes aware that this is actually home

Swift uses this idea with Lemuel Gulliver as a ship’s surgeon

Moderately well-educated, kind, truthfulDecent example of humanity that all can

identify with

Gulliver’s Voyages

Voyage 1: Lilliput Giant among diminutive people Treacherous, malicious, cruel Begin to realize our own likenesses to them

Voyage 2: Brobdingnag Land of giants Utopian race governed by humane leaders Begin to see the faults of our own

country/England Realizes his body must seem as disgusting to

these people as Lilliputians did to him

More Voyages

Voyage 3: Laputa Attacking extreme of theoretical and speculative

reasoning in science, politics, and economics Voyage is an allegory of political life under Sir

Robert Walpole Voyage 4: Houyhnhnms

Race of horses Live by reason; slaves called Yahoos Yahoos are obscene caricature of human body Have no reason—creatures of appetite and

passion

Nothing is as it seems

Swift exercises our vision and perceptions of meaning

Things are seldom what they seem; irony underlies almost every word

Forces his readers to read more closely and alertly

Gulliver insists the example of the Houyhnhnms has made him incapable of lying; yet the oath he swears is quoted from Sinon, the Greek who persuaded the Trojans to accept the Trojan horse.

Levels and Questions

Book doesn’t offer final meanings but a question: What is a human being?

Voyaging through imaginary worlds we find ourselves and answer such questions

In the last voyage, Swift pushes questions and Gulliver beyond all

Gulliver becomes a misanthrope-hater of humanity and forgets who he is

Endings

Swift leaves us unsatisfied and unsettled, at a moment when pettiness, savagery, cruelty, innocence, and other traits of characters begin to look strangely familiar—like our face in a mirror.

1st edition published 1726 anonymouslyMuch of the original manuscript cut outThis angered Swift and later versions were

more authentic

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher

With William Wordsworth started Romantic movement

Suffered from neuralgic and rheumatic pains—became addicted to opium

Famous poems: Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Kubla Khan

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Theme: Repentance can deliver people of sinGuilt leads to knowledge which only comes

with sufferingMoral of the story:

Respect all God’s creatures “He prayeth well, who loveth well / both man

and bird and beast.”Mariner must retell his tale to certain people

Thematic messages

Religious parable—fall & redemption of man

Shows concern with human adventure – love of the supernatural

Gripping, eerie tale of mysterious angelic figures & spirit

Sea tragedy in an almost epic style

Symbolism:

Poem works as ghost story and moral taleSnakes represent all living things: by

appreciating their beauty, the mariner learned to have reverence for life

Hermit: represents healing power of religion & the Mariner’s pardon

Pilot: honesty

Symbolism:

Death-mate: Mariner’s punishmentAlbatross: innocenceSun: bad things; omens; God’s

vengeance and damnationMoon: Mariner’s redemption and God’s

forgiveness

The Albatross

Structure of Poem

Stanzas vary from 5 or 6 lines—prevents monotony

Brings magic of the supernatural and making the unfamiliar credible to English poetry

Imagery astonishes the mind

Brilliance of dreams

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink”

Plot summary

Guilt of the Mariner leads to profound knowledge

Albatross is an object of awe to sailorsColeridge chooses this as an animate

symbol of the sailor’s environmentMariner’s rebirth occurs when he finds joy

at seeing any living thingBlesses the water snakes he had called

“slimy things”

Redemption and painMariner is able to gain the knowledge &

understanding necessary to attain regeneration with this joy

When the crew is no longer angry with him they are bound in guilt to him

Make themselves accomplices to the crime

Killing of an albatross is a crime against nature & the guilty must suffer the punishment

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Born to the Roman Catholic family of a London linen merchant on May 21, 1688.

He was plagued with physical problems all of his life. His tuberculosis made him stand only four and a half feet tall.

Sensitive of his affliction and easily offended

Not allowed to attend university due to his religion

Pope’s bioFirst poet to earn his living by writing

greatest income was from translationsHe was a friend of Jonathan Swift, John

Gay, and Lord Bolingbroke.Considered greatest English poet of

1700s. Brilliant verse satires ridiculed many human follies. Biting wit made him one of the most feared writers in England.

Died on May 30, 1744.

Alexander Pope

Career—1st Period

1709-1715 Wrote Essay on Criticism (1711)

Witty poem about criticism and writing Famous at age of 23 2 famous lines:

“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” “To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Rape of the Lock (1712, 1714) Most famous mock-epic in English language Satirizes vanities of fashionable people

“The Rape of the Lock”

Tells of a pretty young woman whose lock of hair is snipped off by a suitor at a party

Poem criticizes a society that puts high value on trivial things

Society where the death of a husband, or a lap dog is equally serious and the theft of a lock of hair is cause for war

Pope believes these values are out of order

The Rape of the Lock

Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley

Genre

Mock-Epic—has the same characteristics of an epic: classical title, invocation of muse, epic action, lofty language

Pope takes the trivial subject (cutting off a lock of hair) and treats it as a rape

Plot Summary

Belinda is with friends on the ThamesHer 2 curled locks are coveted by the

baron, who snips them offBelinda overcomes her enemy by

throwing snuff on him, however, the lock cannot be found—it has risen to heaven as a star

The Star

by Aubrey Beardsley

Pope’s style

Heroic couplets: lines of iambic pentameter with the end words rhyming

Has a point and gets to it right away Believed one could learn everything, an

answer to every question Wit: big concept 18th century

Not just cleverness/humor Ability to take truths and convey them Taking an idea everyone knows and making it stick

Pope’s Career-2nd Period

1715-1726-devoted himself to translating and editing

Translated the Iliad—makes him financially independent

1719-buys a villa at Twickenham, spends remaining years there writing

Last Period

Writes his most serious satiresExpresses his belief in value of common

sense, moral life, friendship, poetry, and good taste

An Essay on Man (1733-34)Long, ironic, philosophical poem “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”

Last period

4 Moral Essays (1731-35)Satirical poems in the form of lettersOne exposes the follies in womenOther ridicules people who misuse wealth

Pope’s view of NatureNature

Obsessed with ideaDoesn’t mean “great outdoors”—he means

something much larger – chain of beingGreat chain of being:

GodAngelsManWomenAnimalsPlantsDirt