The Dunciad (i.e. the “Iliad of the Dunces”) began originally as a controversy concerning Shakespeare, but turned out to be a coarse and revengeful satire upon all the literary men of the age who had aroused Pope’s anger by their criticism or lack of appreciation of his genius.  Though brilliantly written and immensely popular at one time, its present effect on the reader is to arouse a sense of pity that a man of such acknowledged power and position should abuse both by devoting his talents to personal spite and petty quarrels.  Among the rest of his numerous works the reader will find Pope’s estimate of himself best set forth in his “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,” and it will be well to close our study of this strange mixture of vanity and greatness with “The Universal Prayer,” which shows at least that Pope had considered, and judged himself, and that all further judgment is consequently superfluous.

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745)

In each of Marlowe’s tragedies we have the picture of a man dominated by a single passion, the lust of power for its own sake.  In each we see that a powerful man without self-control is like a dangerous instrument in the hands of a child; and the tragedy ends in the destruction of the man by the ungoverned power which he possesses.  The life of Swift is just such a living tragedy.  He had the power of gaining wealth, like the hero of the Jew of Malta; yet he used it scornfully, and in sad irony left what remained to him of a large property to found a hospital for lunatics.  By hard work he won enormous literary power, and used it to satirize our common humanity.  He wrested political power from the hands of the Tories, and used it to insult the very men who had helped him, and who held his fate in their hands.  By his dominant personality he exercised a curious power over women, and used it brutally to make them feel their inferiority.  Being loved supremely by two good women, he brought sorrow and death to both, and endless misery to himself.  So his power brought always tragedy in its wake.  It is only when we remember his life of struggle and disappointment and bitterness that we can appreciate the personal quality in his satire, and perhaps find some sympathy for this greatest genius of all the Augustan writers.

LIFE.  Swift was born in Dublin, of English parents, in 1667.  His father died before he was born; his mother was poor, and Swift, though proud as Lucifer, was compelled to accept aid from relatives, who gave it grudgingly.  At the Kilkenny school, and especially at Dublin University, he detested the curriculum, reading only what appealed to his own nature; but, since a degree was necessary to his success, he was compelled to accept it as a favor from the examiners, whom he despised in his heart.  After graduation the only position open to him was with a distant relative, Sir William Temple, who gave him the position of private secretary largely on account of the unwelcome relationship.