A Modest Proposal: Biography: Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift, of English descent, was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin, Ireland.  Before moving to England at the age of 22 to work as secretary to a government diplomat, Swift went to school at Trinity College in Ireland.  For some period of time starting in 1694, he even served in the Anglican Church.  Soon, however, he began his career as a writer, satirizing religious, political and even educational institutions.  One of his first literary ambitions was to defend the party he had recently joined-the Tories.  Later, he wrote in defense of the Irish community, particularly in his pamphlet, A Modest Proposal , a biting satire on English-Irish relations, which helped him become a champion of the Irish people. His most famous work, Gulliver's Travels, was published in 1726 anonymously.  Swift died on October 19, 1745, suffering both from extreme loneliness and probable lunacy.