1727+Jonathan+Swift

=**Access Granted:Jonathan Swift/1727**=

Contributor(s):Nnamdi Opia


 * Jonathan Swift** was a writer, a bishop, a philosopher, author and political activist. He is best known for his witty style of writing and his 1726 masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels. Prior to this publication, he was already an established critic and political activist manipulating his way into relevance with witty satire about the world at the time. One of his works A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue was particularly important because it was one of the first incidents when a person attempted to make English, the official language of Britain. The argument he made drew on comparisons to other European nations that already had an official language and what that did for them as an identity as a whole. The idea that the declaration of English as an official language would spur patriotic vigor and exemplify nationalism was effectively repealed because the proposal suggested that a group of people be in charge of mandating or officializing English. In addition, the counter-argument was made that even Swift was not qualified to be on the panel to make these judgments. Nevertheless, this was one of the milestones for Jonathan Swift’s career because it gave him some kind of cadence and made him politically and socially relevant which proved to be important in literary analysis of Gulliver’s Travels in the year following its release.

__**Big Book Break: Gulliver’s Travels—1726**__

Gulliver’s Travels is an interesting book that satirizes human relations and tackles moral and intellectual questions for the eighteenth century follower. Gulliver’s travels follows the life of Lemule Gulliver in his misadventures across the world meeting strange creatures and strange societies. The satire however is that just as much as he(representing the Brits) sees others as strange, they think that he is strange or foreign. It sends a lesson in perspective and gives appropriate insight to human life.

__**February 27- March 2, 1727 (The London Gazette)**__

The London gazette was a London newspaper that was published twice weekly in the 1727. It was usually a service that would personally enable for the communication between various high ranked people including the king. The king would sometimes give approval of news to be delivered. It is particularly striking and accurate given the limited technology about the way crimes were handled especially murder. The illustration to the right is an excerpt from the London Gazette analyzing the sudden increase in Crime as proclaimed by the King. But it couldn't be all negative news because that week was the queen’s birthday.

__**1727 Theater culture**__

The Theater culture of 1727 was rich with wonderful onstage performances. Particular emphasis was placed on mixing up the live performances. The eighteeenth century was particularly important in spotlighting the emergence of a more interactive theater performance as owners struggled against one another to attract more guests. For example, a type of musical performance The Pantomime:A Rape of Proserpine was performed at grand theaters at this time. This event’s catching/driving point would be consistent of grotesque interludes to be performed by the dancing master. The pantomime was virtually an outro to a play to conclude the piece consisting of elegant movement and drawing gallant awes. The quality of a pantomime might be the difference between one customer and two.

__**Music and theater in Hogarth**__

The Hogarth theater in Britain was a particularly important part of theater life because it brought “high life” or high culture to Britain. The theater ran and operated by composer, William Hogarth was a testament that change was coming to Britain and gave Britain some credence in creating a barrier between Britain and its other high powered competitors like France. Unfortunately, his art was founded upon French theories so the French will always get the last laugh.



Hogarth sometimes used his theater to reflect the moods of London as he had his composers distort their countenance and expression to match or contend with the crowd. In 1727, the musician Leveridge’s song shocked the crowd by throwing with Hogarth’s rush of compositions, solos, flutes, and vocals when it was performed in the theater. In addition to music, Hogarth was invested in art and his most familiar portrayal was that of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera a year later.



__**Literary Criticism and Theory**__

One of the major complexities about Gulliver’s Travels is that it spurred issues of Politeness. Granted, people weren't the most polite of people but certain topics were deemed to be insulting or inappropriate in this work. Considering that some of his proposals project some kind of satire as a means to achieve political change, this one wins the trophy in impoliteness something that today might be viewed as indecent in some cultures.

Another eerie element in Gulliver’s travels would be the descent into insanity for Mr. Gulliver which foreshadows the mind instability that Jonathan Swift would suffer in his later years. Though, b oth are not logically bound, the superstitious belief that he could have angered or indirectly perpetuated this on himself is not at all ridiculous, considering that the eighteenth century consumers of fiction really did not know much about the other tribes in the world.

//**The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift Vol. 2: The Journal to Stella**//

This work is an edited collection of many of Swift’s work. They are compromised especially of letters that he wrote to a woman named Stella, a companion of his that he met after his return to England from exile. There is some mystery surrounding the originality of the original manuscripts between him and Stella but they obviously shared a close bond. This piece of work specifically focuses on the compounded traffic of information that flowed between Stella and Swift. This work succeeds Gulliver’s Travel but provided insight for further analysis of whether his relationships with certain people had any profound effects on his work and whether it was particularly important that the relationship he had was with a woman—had it been a man, there would be no contest.

__**Summary**__

In Summary, 1727 was an astounding year for Mr. Swift riding the new coattails of success from his best-selling novel, a great year for Musical performances and mixes between vocalists and instrumentalists and a particularly strong year for the printer

__**Work Cited**__ Chapman, Clive A //1727 Pantomime: The Rape of Proserpine// Musical Times Publications ltd. Web. Pp.807-810 http://www.jstor.org/stable/961245

Eve, Bannet Tavor //The Theater of Politeness in Charlotte Lennox's British-American Novels// Web. 73-92

Klinger, Mary F. //Music and Theatre in Hogarth// Oxford University Press 1979 Web.pp.409-426 http://www.jstor.org/stable/740943

R, Simon Hogarth, //France and British Art: The Rise of the Art in the eighteenth century// Britain Print ISBN 0955406307

Swift, Jonathan //Gulliver’s Travels// Broadview 2012 Print

Swift, Jonathan //A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue// 1712 Print

Swift, Jonathan //A modest proposal// 1729 Print

Swift, Jonathan; Falkiner, //Sir Frederick Richard; Jacob, Constance; Jackson, W. Spencer; Bernard, John Henry The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift Vol. 2:the Journal to Stella// 1710-1713 Print.

The London Gazette Feb.7 1727 to Aug.12 1727