Essays /

Jonathan Swift S Style Writing Essay

Essay preview

Swift wrote plain perfection of prose. Comment.

Many critics like William Deans Howells; T.S. Eliot etc. have called Jonathan Swift the greatest writer of prose like T.S. Eliot says that

"Swift, the greatest writer of English prose, and the greatest man who has ever written great English prose."

But there are reasons for this greatness. One of the main reasons is that Swift wrote in a very plain and downright style. He didn't use any embellishments. At times, when Swift was writing serious stuff this same plain style appears dry but when writing humorously, this same plainness gives his wit a singular edge. Swift didn't use ornate or rhetorical language; he said what he had to in simply without any affectation as Hugh Blair says

"His style is of the plain and simple kind; free of all affectation, and all superfluity; perspicuous, manly and pure."

And at times, his style appears so simple that its seems like anybody with a little sense of writing could write like him but in this same simple ness of manner lies Swift's greatness like Scott says

...

Read more

Keywords

address affect also although altrix anoth anybodi anyth appear archaic aspect authent awak barzun be beggar behind best big bit bitter blair book brobdingna brobdingnag broken call charact child children class cloth coars combin comment common correspond corros could cours creat critic date dead dean degul describ descript despair detail devil didn difficult disburden disgust divid doch doesn doll downright drapier dri dublin edg eliot embellish emperor end english enjoy enorm equal etc even ever everybodi everyth evlam exact exampl excess familiar featur find fool free french gentl german girl girl-th give glumdalclitch goe golbasto grand great greatest grildrig ground gue gullibl gulliv gurdilo hekinah hogan hors houyhnhnm howel hugh humor i.e ii iii imagin imaginari import imposs indic infact inflat invent ironi isn j.j jacqu jonathan kind languag last latin latitud letter liber lie like lilliput lindalino littl long longitud main make man mani manipul manner mean member might minut minutest momaren much mulli naiveté name nap nardac narr natur naval naïv neigh ness non non-sens nurs old one onomatopo ornat outlet part peopl perfect perspicu plain polit politician prais produc promin pronounc prose pure ration read realism reason religi remark rhetor ridicul rough said satir say scientist scott seem sens sensic sentenc serious shefin show shrewd similar simpl simpli simplic singular situat small societi somebodi someon someth sound speech splacknuck still strategi stuff style suggest superflu swift t.s tale testament thing think time total touch translat trap travel tri tub turn ulli under understand use voyag way whinnim william wit witch without women word would write writer written wrote yahoo yet