►→ also see ►→Swift, Jonathan The Anglo-Irish poet, political
writer, and clergyman Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ranks as the
foremost prose satirist in the English language and as one of
the greatest satirists in world literature. Jonathan Swift was
born in Dublin, Ireland, on Nov. 30, 1667. His father, Jonathan
Swift (1640-1667), an Englishman who had settled in Ireland,
died a few months before Swift’s birth. He had married Abigaile
Erick, the daughter of an old Leicestershire family, about 1664.
Swift’s uncle, Godwin Swift, a Tipperary official, supported the
young Jonathan. With his help he entered Kilkenny School, where
William Congreve was a fellow student, at the age of 6. In 1682
Swift matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, where his record
was undistinguished. He received his bachelor of arts degree in
1686. Swift continued his education at Trinity, having almost
obtained a master of arts degree when his uncle’s death and
political violence in Ireland combined in 1688 to make him leave
Ireland and t