Jonathan Swift

This is a good start page from Brittanica.com. There, you'll find a portrait, some biographical information, and some links.

Want to do some more web surfing for information about this author? Here is a good collection of Swift links.

An interesting way to see the scope of Swift's work is to browse through the list of his citations at the Library of Congress. What did you find there that you didn't know before your visit?

Did you know that Swift also wrote poetry? Well, he did. Here is a page with links to some of Swift's poems. Pick a poem and study it. How can you link the poem to Swift's prose style? How is the poem different?

Interested in putting Swift into a historical context? This is what Samuel Johnson wrote about him, and should help you on your way.

Interested in some more background about the gruesome subject material in this piece? Here's an essay about cannibalism. What is the tone of this essay? How can you tell? How can you link it to "A Modest Proposal "?

Jonathan Swift is best known for his satirical works. Interested in taking a look at some contemporary satire? This is the homepage of a satirical website, The Onion. Check it out. It's fun.

Here is "A Modest Proposal " in e-text. Do you like reading electronic texts? What are the drawbacks of e-texts? What can you do with an e-text that's harder to do when using plain old paper? What advantages does print have?

Here's Gulliver's Travels in several different e-text formats. How reliable do you consider these versions of the text? How can one determine the reliability of texts found on the internet?

Still hungry for more works by this author? Here is Swift's Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces in e-text.