Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin, Ireland. Son of an English attorney who died two months after he was born, Swift and his mother struggled to support themselves without steady income. Swift was born with Meniere’s disease, a disease of the inner ear, which causes the afflicted to be hard of hearing and have bouts of nausea. To give Swift a steadier life, his mother gave him to his uncle, Godwin Swift, a prestigious attorney. Swift was soon enrolled in school at the Kilkenny Grammar School, presently the best school in Ireland, where he met his long time friend, playwright William Congreve.
At the age of 14, Swift started his undergraduate studies at Trinity College in Dublin. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1686. While in the process of getting his Master of Arts degree, the Glorious Revolution broke out in Ireland, which, along with the death of his uncle, prompted Swift to move to England. Swift’s mother got him a job as a secretary at Surrey’s Moor Park under Sir William Temple. Swift helped Temple with political errands and
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His letters to her were compiled into his published book Journal to Stella. From February 1708 to April 1709, Swift resided in England. During this time, Swift wrote many important political works, including his Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue and the promotion of the Pope’s Homer. While in England, Swift caught the attention of Esther “Vanessa” Vanhomrigh. Vanhomrigh fell in love with Swift and followed him back to Ireland. There, Swift met back up with Esther “Stella” Johnson, but was incapable of picking her or Vanhomrigh to love. He continued being friends with both, and wrote one of his only serious examples of poetry, titled “Cadenus and Vanessa” to Vanhomrigh. Vanhomrigh confronted Swift in 1723 about his relationship with Johnson, and a few weeks later