Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) A Modest Proposal LINKS Jonathan Swift http://genealogy.org/~ajmorris/ireland/swift.htm This biography by Charles A. Read was originally published in 1880 in The Cabinet of Irish Literature, Dublin, and it provides quite a bit of information about Swift's work and life. The Jonathan Swift Homepage http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/index.html Although this site features Swift's Gulliver's Travels, it also offers a time line of Swift's life which has much useful information, including an online text of "A Modest Proposal." On Satire http://swansong.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/genre/satire.html This site, part of The Victorian Web at Brown University, offers a useful, short essay on satire written by George P. Landow which helps to explain Swift's particular kind of satire. Augustan Satire Bibliography http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/satirebib.html This site maintained by Jack Lynch provides a useful bibliography of Augustan satire, including general works as well as works specifically on Swift. BIOGRAPHY Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)  Born in Dublin, Ireland, of English parents, Swift moved to England following his graduation from Trinity College, Dublin. In 1695, he was ordained minister of the Anglican church of Ireland and five years later became a parish priest in Laracor, Ireland. The conduct of church business took Swift to England frequently, where his wit and skill in defense of Tory politics made him many influential friends. He was rewarded for his efforts in 1713, when Queen Anne appointed him dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. The accession of George I to the throne in the following year, followed by the Tory's loss of the government to Whig control, ended the political power of Swift and his friends. He spent the rest of his life as dean of St. Patrick's, writing during this period his most celebrated satirical narrative, Gulliver's Travels (1726), and his most savage essay, "A Modest Proposal" (1729). Among his many other works are A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books (both 1704), and many poems.