William Blake and Jonathan Swift were writers with specific intentions. Both were concerned about the human condition of their times, and many of these concerns have no resolution today. Both created literary works allowing them to present their point of view in, yet their presentation in society was vastly different. You can read Gulliver’s Travels and understand what Swift’s intends. The story appeals to the sophisticated, well-informed reader who could discern his meaning and appreciate his satirical style. He deals with human nature and its folly. This ability to engage the reader with fantastical stories was his genius. Whereas with Blake, you cannot understand his point of view fully unless you also look at his art.
Both created worlds where they could speak about what they believed. Gulliver’s Travels, is a fantasy novel on the most superficial level, but it also reveals, through Gulliver’s eyes, a concept of an ideal world; a world that is “naturally disposed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason…” (Swift 184). Order, rule, sobriety—these are the principles he set bef...
The theme of their being a possible utopia in Gulliver’s Travels can be seen throughout the novel by Jonathan Swift and is present in all of the societies that Gulliver meets. The Houyhnhnm people were honestly the closest society to being a utopia that Gulliver encountered, but their way of thinking was too unrealistic to work. The Houyhnhnms did their best to try and refrain from doing anything that distracted them from seeking reason so they eliminated entertainment, any forms of vanity, and sexual desires. The problem with this way of thinking is that the citizens have no freedom to do what they want which will not make everybody happy, for a utopia to exist everything has to be perfect, and if everyone is not happy then a utopia does not exist. Instead it was the Lilliputians that showed the most realistic possibility of being a utopia. To point out the ways in which Lilliput is the definition of an true utopia for England, Jonathan Swift uses several pages in “Gulliver’s Travels” to detail the laws by which the citizens in Lilliput are governed. There is a comment about revolutions...
Cannibalism is a very strange device for arguing a point via social commentary, but Johnathan Swift and Michel de Montaigne use it very well to present their ideas. They do so, however, in very different ways. Montaigne’s piece titled “On the Cannibals” was written in 1572, when expansion to foreign, uncharted lands and the decline of stability in France were both occuring very rapidly. It was within the same year that he wrote this essay that the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre occurred, which is very likely what spurred him to write the criticism he did. Simlarly, it was inequality and discontent that led Swift to write his satirical piece, “A Modest Proposal,” on the oppression of the Catholic Irish peasants by Protestant upper class citizens.
...lity for what it is but also gives me motivation to either make the world a better place. Through his writings he gives us a choice that I feel is vital and has the abilities to distinguishes his readers from good and evil, the just and unjust. This is a form of writing in relation to all societies that I have never seen before and I feel that it is vital for all to read Gulliver's Travels so that they can look within themselves and see who they are as individuals. Overall, it is my opinion that Jonathan Swifts works on Gulliver's Travels exemplifies a true literary masterpiece. It gives us a true description of society and how we as individuals interact with on another. It tells us of our "corrupt lawyers, politicians, avaricious doctors, mass slaughters in wars over trivial pretexts-aspects of our experience as well as of Gulliver's and reminders that this narrative Gulliver's and his experiences implicates the reader in the moral problem of how to judge-and perhaps how to change-society. In all there is a lot to learn from these writing and tell us a lot about society and how we as individuals need to gain a better understanding our ourselves as well as society as a whole.
What Swift has accomplished by making Gulliver the embodiment of common English values and beliefs and then having him visit far away lands that are really the mirrors of English society is an interesting satirical device. He forces the English reader to unknowingly judge English society, not according to some higher law or pristine observer, but through the lens of their own cherished values. This effectively turns English beliefs and values in on themselves as a test of their merit. Swift echoes this structure by first having Gulliver visit a land of little people, which causes one to observe them with scrutiny. Then Gulliver immediately travels to a land of giants which causes scrutiny of Gulliver, who is now the little one.
William Blake’s works’ were simpler than Lord Byron’s. Blake took a softer approach as he expressed his ideas without saying too much. His works included phrases that had more meaning to its simple message. He took what he had learned in the world and added it into his poetry. He was able to capture all sides of life whether it dealt with a child or the unknown presence of an object. He was bale to take the little and turn it into something big that would be remembered for a long time.
Although both stories are completely different, they have one underlying theme that they both follow. All of the main characters of both stories point out major human flaws. Gulliver and the Frankenstein monster are depictions of human nature. Gulliver shows this through the people and societies he meets in his travels. Swift, through Gulliver, depicts the flaws of modern religion with the disputes of the Lilliputians and their beliefs of breaking “eggs at the most convenient ends” (Swift 59). The reader quickly dismisses this conflict as laughable because of the absurdity of the dispute, and this is a perfect example of Swift’s uncanny satirical powers. Swift leaves no group unscathed in his book. Gulliver ,while traveling through the Islands of Laputa, talks about scientist and their projects in that “The only inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet brought to perfection, and in the mean time, the whole country lies miserably waste” (Swift 196).
Rodino, Richard H. "The Study of Gulliver's Travels, Past and Present." Critical Approaches to Teaching Swift. New York: AMS Press, 1992.
In her article, "Voyeurism in Swift's Poetry," Louise K. Barnett explores the trend of voyeurism m the works of Jonathan Swift. She speaks broadly about the use of this technique in his work and concentrates on a few poems including "The Lady's Dressing Room." Barnett believes that Swift's poetry tends to be more voyeuristic than it is obsessed with excrement and decay. To support this, she maintains that each poem centers around the experience of seeing the obscenity (i.e. "The Lady's Dressing Room" revolves around Strephon's response to Celia's dirt and dung) rather than the obscenity.
William Blake was an English romantic poet who lived from 1757 to 1827 through both the American and the French revolutions. Although he lived during the Romantic Age, and was clearly part of the movement, Blake was a modern thinker who had a rebellious political spirit. He was the first to turn poetry and art into sociopolitical weapons to be raised rebelliously against the establishment. His poetry exemplified many of the same topics being discussed today. Although he was known as both a madman and a mystic, (Elliott) his poetry is both relevant and radical. He employed a brilliant approach as he took in the uncomfortable political and moral topics of his day and from them he created unique artistic representations. His poetry recounts in symbolic allegory the negative effects of the French and American revolutions and his visual art portrays the violence and sadistic nature of slavery. Blake was arguably one of the most stubbornly anti-oppression and anti-establishment writers in the English canon.
Lemuel Gulliver recounts his findings over four of his most impactful voyages in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver gives his own candid account of all significant characters encountered and manages to fall into almost every influential person’s favor. Swift tactically shapes Gulliver’s encounters with characters from varying backgrounds to compare the behavior of the esteemed nobility with the behavior of commoners. Swift has Gulliver alter his demeanor based on his present surroundings to appeal to those around him and maintain his pride. By doing so, Swift intended to didactically explain his contempt for nobility, his misanthropy, and the dangers of pride.
In the last part of the novel Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, a dichotomy is established which crtiticizes two extreme ideas of man. The Houynhnms, a race of horses, are meant to symbolize man as a supremely rational being and the Yahoos, a primitive, vulgar version of humans, are made to symbolize man as an animal. The narrator Gulliver is a sort of reference point between the two, since in physical appearance he seems to be a Yahoo, but his ability to reason enables him to relate well to the Houynhnms. Readers have interrpreted the rational horses in a number of different ways. Some feel that the Houynhnms are the ideal to which humans should strive to attain. Others feel that the Houynhnms are as evil as the Yahoos. It is my opinion that Swift uses the Houynhnms and the Yahoos to illustrate both ends of the unattainable spectrum of reason, and why both are completely undesireable ways of life.
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that experiencing different lifestyles he thought were better than his own actually makes him appreciate his own life with a more meaningful disposition through his journeys to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput effectuated forlorn feelings of his home. Likewise, Gulliver’s trek to Brobdingnag assists in his realization that changing perspectives also alter his attitude towards his homeland. Finally, Gulliver’s expedition to the Country of Houyhnhnms, where horses act civilized on and people act like wild animals. Gulliver soon learns that through his mystical journeys that changing the perspective in which he views the world reverses feelings of gratefulness towards his home. Gulliver’s first journey set sail to the Lilliputians on May 4th, 1699.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
In Gulliver’s Travel, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, there are many political themes and satirical descriptions of the English government. During Swift’s time, the early 1700s, the Tory government and the Whig government opposed each other. Hoping that they would appoint him to the Church of England, Swift joined the Tories, but he was not appointed to the position by the Queen. When Tory government was in trouble for treason with the French, the Whig government took over, and Swift left politics to publish Gulliver’s Travel to show the disagreements between the two parties and between the Protestant English and the Catholic French, who did not agree on religious values. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travel also to show his idealized vision for the English society. In the novel, Swift criticizes the government as he narrates the adventures which Gulliver experiences at different islands with foreign and unique groups of people. In a way, Swift creates utopian societies at the Lillitupian Island and the Brobdingnag Island to exhibit the imperfection of government that existed in England. As Gulliver, Swift’s main character, interacts with these societies, he criticizes some of their customs and laws. He notices that these societies are not utopian from his perspective. Although there are many themes throughout Gulliver’s Travels, this paper will focus on part one and two examining the utopian societies Swift creates for Gulliver to experience through his interactions with the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagian people system of government.
Gulliver's Travels is a great novel written by Jonthan Swift. It is about voyages of Gulliver-main character-to different countries. Gulliver's Travels is a political allegory of England at Swift's time. the word allegory means a simple that can be objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent an abstract idea or concepts. Swift uses this novel to criticize the political condition of England at the 18th century and to make a satire of the royal court of George 1 . Gulliver's Travels has established itself as a classic for young people. Its appeal to young minds is due to the fact that it is, on the surface, an adventure story of strange wonderful lands. As a matter of fact, it is taken by the mature reader as an allegory work of England at Swift's time.