Chapter 16 - Satire

Summary

Swift is one of the best-known and most highly venerated satirists in the English language. But the precise forms of his satires often seem to defy categorisation. This chapter explores how Swift used, appropriated, and invented his own satirical norms. The first section examines how he parodied form, both in his mock versions of specific genres such as pastoral and elegy, and also in his treatment of the printed book, in the parodic paratexts of A Tale of a Tub (1704) and Gulliver’s Travels (1726). In his mock-treatises, Swift repeatedly yokes unthinkable subjects to refined style. The second section of the chapter shows how Swift uses the same technique in the Travels to defamiliarise the world. The third and final section focuses on Swift’s verse, where his mixed forms and intertwined rhymes and rhythms provide a commentary on the crumbling world he portrays.