Welcome to my weekly blog,  SATURDAY SESSIONS!

In this blog, for the perusal of all our students, past, present and future, I include an extract from our interactive presentation Course, Ireland and its Culture.

If you wish to ask me any question about the text, by the way, just send me an e-mail at greg@bluefeather.ie

IRISH LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

PART TWO

PRE- TWENTIETH CENTURY SELECTION

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745):

This great writer was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and wrote some classical satires such as Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal.  In the latter, he suggested that the children of the poor Irish should be fattened to provide food for the rich English:

"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout."

Gulliver’s Travels is often seen as a children’s book, particularly Gulliver's voyages to Lilliput -where all the inhabitants are thumb-sized - and Brobdingnag, the land of the giants.

The book is, in fact, a wonderfully written satire.

Swift himself reminded us what satire was:

'Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.'

Even though it was written in the 18th Century, it is still easy enough to read and like all the best books, it doesn't age and is still very funny!

Here are some more quotes from Swift:

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."

"Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through."

"We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."

"The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet and Doctor Merryman."

"May you live all the days of your life!"