Dont forget to hit the Like and Subscribe videos to make sure you receive notifications about upcoming Literature, Grammar, Reading, Writing, and World History lessons from MrBrayman.Info.\r<br>\r<br>This lesson gives students background information on Jonathan Swift, a conceptual introduction to satire, and background knowledge on Gullivers Travels, especially Part 4. Its a good lesson to use before A Modest Proposal too.\r<br>\r<br>Below is the outline of the slides used in the lesson:\r<br>\r<br>Jonathan Swift, Satire, and Gullivers Travels Lesson\r<br>Biography of Swift\r<br>Satire—Definition and Examples\r<br>Background of Gullivers Travels\r<br>Connections to the Project\r<br>Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745\r<br>Born in Ireland of English, Anglican parents\r<br>At a time when tensions between England and Ireland were high for political and religious reasons\r<br>Conflicts with the English government over his familys politics after the English Civil War and over his writing \r<br>Had a great sympathy for the Irish—became somewhat of a member of both cultures\r<br>Became the Dean of St. Patricks Cathedral in Dublin\r<br>Satire\r<br>A literary form (poetry, prose, or drama) that exaggerates tendencies to make people laugh as a form of protest\r<br>Uses humor as a weapon\r<br>A more enlightened form of sarcasm\r<br>Can be subtle or blatant, and can be serious or silly\r<br>Examples of Satire\r<br>How Satire Works\r<br>Literal Satire: looks, feels, seems just like realistic art, but little things are exaggerated to show how ridiculous they are\r<br>Unrealistic Satire (like Gullivers Travels): fantastic places and unrealistic settings serve as metaphors for the world we live in\r<br>When people laugh, they are more relaxed and willing to engage with a speaker or artist\r<br>When people see things that arent them but who do the same things they do, they can look at those things more objectively\r<br>Gullivers Travels\r<br>Travel narrative—Lemuel Gulliver goes to four places:\r<br>Liliput—the land of the small people\r<br>Brobdingnag—the land of the giants\r<br>Laputa—the land of the scientists\r<br>The Land of the Houyhnhnms—talking horses who have more reason than men\r<br>\r<br>Gullivers Travels\r<br>Liliput—Swift makes fun of peoples pettiness; for example, two political parties fight furiously over which end of an egg should be cracked\r<br>Brobdingnag—By encountering giant humans, Gulliver shows us just how disgusting people are\r<br>Laputa—The scientists of Laputa are so busy with all of their imaginary learning that their wives go astray\r<br>\r<br>Gullivers Travels\r<br>The Land of the Houyhnhnms\r<br>In comparison to humans, horses seem very wise, just, and reasonable—so much for the Enlightenment\r<br>Gulliver comes to identify with the horses and not the Yahoos—a race of human-ish creatures that have all of humanitys worst qualities\r<br>What is a human? What is an animal? Are humans all that great?\r<br>Connection to the Project\r<br>Swift shows us slavery, racism, and genocide, and he asks us questions about all of them\r<br>He makes us question the Enlightenment and the very idea of civilization and who is civilized\r<br>Like many Enlightenment thinkers, he realized that Europe needed to humble itself\r<br>Lesson Completed—Good Job\r<br>I have provided a read-along for this\r<br>Be prepared to write about satirical s in the selections from the book that I have given you—like a metaphor, whats the tenor and whats the vehicle, and whats Swifts purpose for the satire?
