First Students' Classics

 Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667. He was an author, journalist, and political activist best known for his novel, Gulliver’s Travels. Swift’s father was a lawyer and civil servant who died seven months before Swift was born. Swift studied at Kilkenny Grammar school and later at Trinity College in Dublin.

Throughout the reign of Queen Ann, Swift was one of the central figures of literary and political life of London. Swift began his political career as a part of the whig political party but in 1710, he switched sides to become a Tony and took over the Tony journal, The Examiner. Gulliver’s Travels, one of his most renowned works was published in great secrecy in 1726. Even the publisher did not know who the author was. 

Gulliver’s Travels was Swift’s savage attack on corrupt politicians, philosophers, teachers and entrepreneurs. The book was an immediate success.

Swift’s religious writings are little read today. His most famous works are The Battle of Books and A Tale of a Tub. Jonathan Swift died on October 19, 1745. He left behind a great mass of poetry and prose.