Point of View

The poem initially appears to be in the third person, with Strephon as the central character. There is a clear narratorial voice making characteristically Swiftian sardonic commentary on everything that is observed in the poem’s events. The use of the third person throughout most of the poem creates a sense of distance, which is a common convention in Swift's work. The poem relies heavily on disgust and repulsion, affects which push a reader away from close engagement with the events of the text. The use of third person strengthens that sense that the reader does not want to get too close.

However, at the very end, the poem pivots to first person. Not until line 129 does a first-person voice appear, saying “I pity wretched Strephon” (129). The use of first person at the end allows Swift to more clearly state the concluding moral of the...