About the Author

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 - 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift originally published all of his works under pseudonyms, such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier, or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire; the Horatian and Juvenalian style. He is regarded as one of the most influential political writers of his time.