Jonathan Swift

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Johnathan Swift; World Famous Satirist Johnathan Swift is known as one of the most influential and popular satirists. It was once said that, "a great satirist is a man with intense convictions about right and wrong, but his convictions must be made to convince us too" (Williams, 3). Swift had a difficult childhood and was not predicted to succeed in life. However, his life experience inspired him to write one of the most popular children's novels of all time. Swift's work is significant and popular because he was influenced by society, his work reflected the time period, it is very memorable, and his writings affected writers that followed him.

Swift was born in Dublin Ireland on November 30, 1667. His father was an Englishman who went to Ireland to seek fortune, but died of unknown causes a few months before Swift's birth. His mother deserted him when he was just a small baby.

Swift's uncle raised him and sent him to school in Kilhenny at the age of 6. Even though Swift was not a good student and experienced minor problems, in 1682 he attended Trinity College and subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree and later a Master's Degree. At this time he was moving back and forth from Ireland to England, but in 1689 he was forced out of England because of the rebellion. During the rebellion he made an effort to help fight the oppression, but no permanent results were achieved. This had a great affect on his character and attitude because he did not accept the beliefs of the time period. He also cared passionately for the plight of the Irish peasants and felt that humanity was evil and the social evils of the time were the product of human flaws. The irony in Swift's life...