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Swift's 'Verses Wrote in a Lady's Ivory Table-Book,' lines 17-24. (Jonathan Swift)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19930322
Author:Bergenholtz, Rita A.

Critics analyzing the lines 17-24 in Jonathan Swift's poem 'Versus Wrote in a Lady's Ivory Table-Book' believe that the narrator of the poem is not aware of his victimization by the fashionable lady, and that Swift's satire is aimed at his ignorance. Some, however, believe that the narrator is conscious that he has been victimized and that he is mocking the victims, including himself.

Critics have repeatedly dismissed this poem as a "light occasional piece" that permits Swift to satirize the fashionable world that the lady and her suitors occupy.(1) While such a straightforward motive ...

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