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Swift's 'The Day of Judgement.' (Jonathan Swift)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19950101
Author:Stanley, William Chad

Critics of Jonathan Swift's 'The Day of Judgement' tend to diminish the merits of their analyses by their non-recognition of the trap or trick nature of the poem. This involves the biblical images used by Swift to enclose the poem's readers into an expectation for a convenient and traditional interpretation. Once this is acheived, standard Christian images are replaced by pagan imagery which leads to a radically different mental conception for the reader.

With a Whirl of Thought opress'd, I sink from Reverie to Rest. An horrid Vision seiz'd my Head. I saw the Graves give up their Dead. ...

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