Literary Criticism of Swift’s Poetry
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.
Barnett claims that the act should offend readers more than the content: "What is seen [in Swift] - a pathetic streetwalker disrobing, a disordered dressing room and lavatory - is not truly extraordinary; the appropriation of private experience and the poetic vindication of it are more so." (18) The fact that Swift looks at (and writes about) the private life constitutes a betrayal that should make the reader uneasy. (19) In light of this, Barnett suggests:
What makes voyeurism such a powerful aesthetic strategy is its violation of the taboo of privacy, its denial of a condition that we take for granted as our right - namely, not to be observed in certain places, at certain times, doing certain things. 17
The private life consists of details that the public life would rather deny or at least hide. (17) If one person examines the private life of another (i.e. Strephon sees Celia's dressing room), the credibility of that public life is destroyed for him or her. If a large number of people examine that private life (i.e. readers of Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room"), the public facade is totally dest...
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...tion of some sort of improper behavior." (20)
I found Bamett's article engaging but difficult to digest. She tries to fit words like "obverse" and "espousal" into her work smoothly, but instead leaves the reader pouring over her words with a dictionary nearby. (This seems to be a trend in literary criticism - apparently, the bigger your words, the more people believe that you know something they don't!) She sets up her argument for "The Lady's Dressing Room," "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed," and "The Legion Club" to be considered voyeuristic rather than scatological efficiently. Though I disagree, her belief that Swift objectifies women just as the Romantics he critiqued deserves merit. The only downfall is the abuse of a thesaurus.
Works Cited
Barnett, Louise K. "Voyeurism in Swift's Poetry." Studies in the Literary Imagination. Spring l984: 17-26.
The main rhetorical challenge of this ironic essay is capturing the attention of an audience. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing together an appalling set of morally flawed positions in order to cast blame and criticize
Swift’s use of these three devices created a captivating and somewhat humorous satire. He used irony and ethos to emphasize the ridiculous nature of the essay, and to show how the practice of eating children would be unethical. He used ambiguity to make the essay a more comedic work rather than a horror about the gruesome practice of child cannibalism. Overall, the satirical essay was
Therefore, before an analysis can continue, one has to make the assumption that this is strictly a fictional work and Swift had no intention of pursuing his proposal any further. One of the other voices that is present throughout the entire story is that of sarcasm. In order to understand this further, a reader has to comprehend that Swift, becoming infamous after Gullivers Travels, was a member of the upper-class. Right from the first paragraph, Swift attempts to fool his readers by the sarcasm of the dreary scene that Swift presents. For example, he mentions that it is a melancholy sight to see beggars and their children on the street.
Swift's opposition is. indirectly presented in the report. The author uses satire to accomplish his objective not only because he is able to conceal his true identity but also because it is the most effective way to awake the people of Ireland into seeing their own deprivation. Firstly, the narrative voice begins the essay by describing the horrible conditions in which the Irish peasants live. He demonstrates there is a serious problem with a great need for a solution.
Swift begins his argument by stating his view on the situation and displaying his annoyance. He states, "It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country when they see the streets, roads, and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms" (Swift 1). He uses melancholic imagery for the readers to sympathize with the suffering children and to understand their situation. Similarly, Swift displays his disgust for the wealthy by stating that "There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children… which would move tears in the most savage and inhumane beast" (1). He talks about abortion and shows how ghastly and disheartening the practice is. Clearly, Swift makes use of pathos to slowly gain the reader’s confidence in preparation for his appalling proposal. He knows that many will be emotionally affected by his proposal because no one would want their own c...
Although Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith have two distinct writing styles, their passion for literature, their desire for a better world, and the underlying topic of their work are all strikingly similar. The lives of these two famous authors also resemble each other’s, starting in poverty, living through life’s hardships, and ending in success. Swift and Goldsmith were two of the most famous authors of the 18th century. I believe if Swift and Goldsmith had met, they would have made great friends. For the reason that, along with their passions, their lives were bursting with challenges. Both were born in poverty and underwent numerous challenges, including the death of loved ones and the loss of purpose in life. In addition, Jonathan Swift
Wittkowsky, George. "Swift's Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early Georgian Pamphlet." Journal of the History of Ideas 4 (Jan.-Oct. 1943): 75-104. Rpt. in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 101. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
In “A Modest Proposal” several forms of satire are demonstrated throughout the story. Satire is defined as the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose or criticize people’s stupidity or vices. (Google) In "A Modest Proposal" Swift uses parody which is a form of satire. Parody is primarily making fun of something to create a humorous feel for it. In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses parody to make fun of the people and children of Ireland, expressing the children as delicious food to be eaten.
Rosen, David. Four ways your privacy is being invaded. 11 september 2012. 13 february 2014 .
The paper will deal with two aspects of the privacy-vs-security issue. The first one is concerned with general civil liberties, where privacy is understood to mean freedom to make personal (private) choices in our own homes, control our daily lives and decide with whom we share information that is of our concern – information about our emotions, attitudes, behavior and future decisions and events. The second aspect deals with the privacy vs. security on the internet. Since we live in a technological era, internet has become an inseparable part of our l...
In the poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” written by Jonathan Swift, one may say he portrays himself to be a chauvinist by ridiculing women and their cryptic habits. However, others may say he wants to help women from the ideals placed upon them by society and prove to be an early feminist. This poem written in the 18th century represented women to be fake and sleazy at first. Then during the 20th century, the feminist movement used it as an attack against women, depicting the poem’s meaning as not valuing their rights and freedoms. The truth far hidden from these points of views became uncovered recently. This essay will explain both sides of the views and using critical thinking will uncover the real message the author intended to portray.
People never truly know if their privacy is being breached when the government does it; they can only assume they are being watched and are unable to fight it – there are a few cases in which people have gone to court over privacy breaches, but that is not a feasible solution for most. Whereas, in an invasion of privacy between two normal people, one can notice it and have some control over the situation, like calling the cops or tightening up
In “The Lady’s Dressing Room” by Jonathan Swift, the author educate and enlighten the readers by liberating both genders from false ideals placed upon them by society. Swift criticizes both men and women for adhering to gender stereotypes throughout the poem upon closer inspection.
In a university most use an emergency notification system which everyone from the school get alerts for any emergency happening in the school almost simultaneously. Advancements in meteorology can help meteorologist better predict when hurricanes will make landfall which then help determine when and where to issue evacuations. Communities can sometimes use it to warn each other of disasters and unsafe situations. “The use of social media for emergencies and disasters may be conceptualized as two broad categories. First, social media can be used somewhat passively to disseminate information and receive user feedback via incoming messages, wall posts, and polls. A second approach involves the systematic use of social media as an emergency management tool.” (fas.org) This statement puts it in simple terms and explains how important being able to communicate to a large amount of people in almost an instant has become in recent years. Some other emergency uses include people requesting for assistance, monitoring a disaster, using GPS to track survivors of disaster, with many more uses to
As we have seen it helps in warning people of potential harm and as a result can minimize casualties. In addition, it can perform as an effective tool in distributing resources. Furtheremore, it can provide the basic interaction between families and their loved ones. Prior, during and after a disaster communication is vital because it allows an emergency system to run effectively. Without communication lives can be lost, resources can go unused or unrequested and recovery is impossible. Knowing this, an effective system is necessary on all levels, between agencies and between communities. With advancements in technology and a new culture of sharing we ca use these systems to improve emergency management and reduce