Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667, in Dublin, Ireland. Educated at Kilkenny College and Trinity College Dublin, he served as secretary to diplomat Sir William Temple, where he sharpened his intellect, political philosophy, and mastery of classic literature.

Ordained as an Anglican priest, Swift was appointed Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin in 1713. There, he became an outspoken champion of Irish economic and political rights against British exploitation, most famously through the pseudonym M. B. Drapier in The Drapier's Letters and his shocking 1729 satire A Modest Proposal.

In 1726, Swift published his immortal masterpiece Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World (known everywhere as Gulliver's Travels). Disguised as a traveler's fantasy voyage through Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the land of the Houyhnhnms, the book delivered a scorching philosophical critique of human vanity, political corruption, and irrational hubris. Swift passed away on October 19, 1745, leaving his fortune to found St. Patrick's Hospital for mental disorders.