Jonathan Swift: The Selected Poems

by Jonathan Swift (Editor), A. Norman Jeffares

Book by

Genres: Poetry

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 1976

About the author

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".

Reviews

[Heaven2ndEarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible, but don’t read unless you’re already a massive a nerd for swift. I’ve decided to put it down early after thumbing through the book and reading the gemmy poems. His humor and sense of wit generally covers for when he is repetitive or mechanical, especially when the poems are good or already about something funny. As a fan of Alexander Pope it was cool seeing Pope references sprinkled throughout, of course.

“In Pope, I cannot read a line,
But with a sigh, I wish it mine:
When he can in one couplet fix
More sense than I can do in six:
It gives me such a jealous fit,
I cry, “Pox take him, and his wit.’”

[Y. Chang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great selection with plenty of notations.