Published in the year 1732, Jonathan Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing Room” generally talks about a woman’s filthiness that is surveyed by an intrusive man who enters the woman’s room when she is not present. Two years later, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu published “The Reasons that Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Call’d “The Lady’s Dressing Room””, a fist fighting response to Jonathan Swift’s poem. Both of the poets use a satirical style of writing in their poems to criticize each other. In Jonathan Swift’s poem, the tone seems to be awfully sarcastic as well as disgusted. Lady Montagu’s poem exemplifies a distinct anger but also a humorous tone at the same time. Both poems are personal attacks that seem to have been written out of either spite or anger. Right away, Jonathan Swift is being sarcastic in the first stanza of the poem when he writes: Five Hours, (and who can do it less in?) By haughty Celia spent in Dressing; The Goddess from her Chamber issues, Array’d in Lace, Brocades and Tissues. (Lines 1-4) Swift says that women take about five hours to get themselves ready and no less. He calls Celia, the name Swift gives to the woman being ambushed in the poem, arrogant and then compares her to a goddess. This line suggests that women take so much time to reach a level of perfection or divinity. Jonathan Swift posits that Celia is a disgusting and filthy pig. He writes so that the speaker of the poem sounds very crude and vulgar when describing Celia. Swift writes: Fowl’d with the Scouring of her Hands, The Bason takes whatever comes A nasty Compound of all Hues, For here she spits, and here she spues. But oh! It turn’d poor Strephon’s Bowels, When he beheld and smelt the Towels, Begumm’d besmittere’d, and bes... ... middle of paper ... ...g than of – I won’t give back on single Crown, To wash your Band, or turn your Gown.] (Lines 96-71) The themes in either poem are similar. Both poets are insulting one another; it is almost like a battle between sexes. These two poems go to show that even years ago, poets like rap artists and singers today, wrote pieces that incorporated such drama and vulgarity as shown in “The Lady’s Dressing Room” and “The Reasons that Induced Dr.S to Write a Poem Call’d “The Lady’s Dressing Room””. Both pieces are humorous and satirical as well as insulting and vulgar. The intensity presented in the voice of the speakers of both poems helps to deliver a very well put piece. Both poets are very skillful in their use of style, tone, and imagery to help readers feel the same way as the poets themselves felt when they experienced whatever it was they discussed in their poems.
The story itself is ironic since no one can take Swift’s. seriously consider the proposal. This irony is clearly demonstrated at the end of the story; Swift makes it clear that this proposal would not affect. him since his children were grown and his wife unable to have any more children. They are all children.
At what point in the essay did you recognize that Swift’s proposal is meant to be satiric? Do you think a modern audience would get the joke faster than Swift’s contemporaries did? It becomes obvious that the author was employing sarcastic and humorous ideas in his proposal when
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
Swift uses sarcasm to make his argument that the Irish should not be ignored by the English. In 1729 Ireland was hit with a potato famine and the commoners were the ones who suffered the most. The elite were never left hungry and did not suffer like the rest; therefore, they took little or no importance about what happen to the commoners and how they lived. He states, “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the...
It was their greatest weapon against injustice, and this fact remains true today. A person’s tongue is sharper than any double-edged sword. It can start a war, just as easily as it can prevent one. With Jonathan Swift’s and Oliver Goldsmith’s similar ideas, they tried to portray the injustice and corruption of the upper classes through satire poetry. Their desire in life was to ease their own poverty and to instruct and please the reading public through their literary masterpieces. Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith had a similar vision for the future: a world without poverty, where justice was prevalent, and the masses were educated. This ideal world cannot be accomplished through government alone; the moral of the people has to change as well. Swift and Goldsmith both recognized this problem, therefore they wrote to the people, not the upper classmen that they distrusted. Both Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith skillfully portrayed their distrust for the wealthy members of Parliament and the upper class, while displaying their desires for a better world, in their writings. Despite their shared hardships, both Swift and Goldsmith never lost their hope for a brighter
Jonathan Swift has been named one of the most memorable satirist in English, Swift’s, A
In his satire, A Modest Proposal, Swift utilizes hyperbole and sarcasm to bring awareness of the unacceptable conditions of the Irish poor in the 18th century.
...ture the attention of the audience by means of “political pamphleteering which is very popular during his time” (SparkNotes Editors). The language and style of his argument is probably why it is still popular till this day. By using satire, Swift makes his point by ridiculing the English people, the Irish politicians, and the wealthy. He starts his proposal by using emotional appeal and as it progresses, he uses ethos to demonstrate credibility and competence. To show the logical side of the proposal, he uses facts and figures. By applying these rhetorical appeals, Swift evidently makes his argument more effectual.
Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.
In 1729, Jonathan Swift published a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal”. It is a satirical piece that described a radical and humorous proposal to a very serious problem. The problem Swift was attacking was the poverty and state of destitution that Ireland was in at the time. Swift wanted to bring attention to the seriousness of the problem and does so by satirically proposing to eat the babies of poor families in order to rid Ireland of poverty. Clearly, this proposal is not to be taken seriously, but merely to prompt others to work to better the state of the nation. Swift hoped to reach not only the people of Ireland who he was calling to action, but the British, who were oppressing the poor. He writes with contempt for those who are oppressing the Irish and also dissatisfaction with the people in Ireland themselves to be oppressed.
In his lengthy literary career, Jonathan Swift wrote many stories that used a broad range of voices that were used to make some compelling personal statements. For example, Swifts, A Modest Proposal, is often heralded as his best use of both sarcasm and irony. Yet taking into account the persona of Swift, as well as the period in which it was written, one can prove that through that same use of sarcasm and irony, this proposal is actually written to entertain the upper-class. Therefore the true irony in this story lies not in the analyzation of minute details in the story, but rather in the context of the story as it is written.
...that the author is sarcastic about his own proposal, any kind of opposing view or counterargument is in reality the voice of reason and intelligence when compared with Swift’s proposal. The argument is in a way weak or flawed because of the sarcasm at hand. Yes, it is full of satire, but in the following argument Swift builds up his proposal only to diminish the value of his argument by blatantly expressing the sarcasm in this piece. This proposal is flawed throughout the text and is in no way a rational or logical solution to the problem as Swift claims it is. In conclusion, Swift’s proposal is a satire filled piece, which he delivers in a dry indifferent style. His arguments, rationally presented, support an irrational solution to the problem and he evokes pathos in his audience by using only logos in his proposal and that is the brilliance of his piece.
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.
The Writings of Jonathan Swift; Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism. edited by Robert A. Greenberg and William Bowman Piper. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1973.
1. Cook, Richard. Jonathan Swift as a Tory Pamphleteer. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1967.