The city of sarcasm and woe: Swift’s “A description of a city shower” and “A description of the morning”

Abstract

In his poetry, Jonathan Swift (1667 to 1745) has shown a deep concern in understanding human nature and explaining human behavior. This paper aims at studying the technical devices Swift uses to introduce a satirical image of the city in an attempt to clarify his moral outlook. With special emphasis on Swift's two poems A Description of a City Shower and A Description of the Morning, this study emphasizes Swift's use of sustained irony, satire, dramatization of vice and realistic portrayal of human nature to clarify physical and spiritual degradation which has become a characteristic of the society in the eighteenth-century. Swift's description of man's nature and the exposure of the fallaciousness of man's illusory ideas reflect his repudiation of man's false and immoral conduct. He meant his poetry to be a genuine reforming force; to be evaluated by its real influence on moral sensibility. Key words: Moral outlook, satire, irony, gradualism, realistic depiction, mock-heroic style, moral indignation, social reformation.