Jonathan Swift played the misanthrope; that is to say, he took such pleasure in moralizing those practices which he perceived as symptomatic of the rancid state of human nature, that this vehemence became as much a part of his poetry as the derision itself. even. In many of his poems, Swift combined elusive irony and parody of Juvenalian satire with scabrous detail, the cumulative effect being poetry clearly fascinated on some level by the objects of his poetic and satirical contempt. Yet in "The Lords of Limit," Geoffrey Hill seems to create a lucid dichotomy between Swift as a "moralist" and Swift as an "artist," and although Hill admits that Swift in his poetry "is both resistant and reciprocal. in the face of human corruption, he seems reluctant to recognize Swift's ability to hold in tension both his contempt and his stylistic indulgence in the details of what he despises. The connotations of self-righteousness present in “retrench” and “stand guard” seem to imply Hill's surprise that Swift could focus on the objects of his satire at such an intense level. However, by examining the so-called "scatological" poems, it is possible to infer that this palpable fascination (and perhaps even strange pleasure) perceptible in Swift's description of all things sordid is in fact an essential component of his pontifical disdain. no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an original essay The work of an apparently pious clergyman, Swift's invectives generally attack the corruption he discerns in political and contemporary social systems, while mocking “individual” sins such as pride and sexual perversion. And it is on this fornication and this general idealization of sex (and in particular of sex with beautiful women) that his criticisms are based in A Beautiful Young Nymph Who Goes to Bed, The Lady's Dressing Room and Strephon and Chloe. In these poems, Swift's close associations between sex and sordidness (especially excretion) seem to imply not only that fornication is a sin, but also that sex itself is condemnable simply because of its uncleanness. Furthermore, it is possible to argue that Swift's connection between the women in his poems and the corruption of sex highlights femininity as the cause of depravity and idealization, not as something praiseworthy. or desirable. The depiction of a prostitute decosmetizing in A Beautiful Young Nymph Goes to Bed, presumably after a night's work, is horribly precise in its details: Now, choosing a crystal eye, she wipes it and places it on side. (ll. 11-12) In his meticulous attention to detail, it is almost as if Swift himself "dismantled" the idealized image of woman's beauty. Indeed, Swift's use of numerous manual verbs and adverbs—“removes,” “deftly,” “untwist,” and “unlace”—not only vividly describes the scene as Corinna undresses, but also serves metaphor for Swift's poetic process. . It is not only Corinna who deconstructs herself physically, but Swift himself demolishes the image of female beauty. Its iconoclasm becomes more and more dramatic in its parallels: And then between two covers slips. With the pains of love tormented the lies; Or if she is lucky enough to close her eyes, Of Bridewell and the count dreams, And feels the whip, and cries faintly (ll. 38-42) The poem becomes more and more interior, as does the parallelism of the metaphor of Swift. As the woman slips into her bed, the most intimate space,not only has the mask been removed, but the reader is now able to peer into her mind, what she “dreams” and “feels.” Mirroring this, Swift's undressing of the perfect image of womanhood also becomes even more subversive to the extent that it implicates the Church in supporting the commerce of women. Swift's use of defilement as a means of destroying any idealization of the human body and sex also appears in The Lady's.Dressing Room, another anatomizing poem. His invective and biting approach takes on a form of parody, as Strephon sneaks in to look at what he expects to be beauty and is instead confronted with an "inventory" of "trash." Parodying the routine of conventional love poetry - a man's infatuation with a woman, then his wooing and conquest - it is possible to argue that Swift also employs a heroic style, offset by his light wit and octosyllabic meter playful. , to enhance its satirical treatment of blinded lovers. It incorporates classical references like Epimethus lifting the lid of Pandora's box (although in this case not to let out all the evils of the world, but rather to inhale the fumes of Celia's excrement!), and also appears to parody epic poets. “These secrets of the white depths” (ll. 98) imitates and inverts Milton's “dark/boundless ocean” (Paradise Lost, II, 890-91), and he also compares Celia to Venus, who was born from the sea: Should I, the queen of love, refuse, Because she came from a stinking slime? (ll. 131-32) Milton's ocean burlesque reduced to a chamber pot, and the ocean from which the goddess Venus emerged presented as a pot of "stinking ooze" undermines the traditional regard for such spectacles heroic, just as Swift subverts traditional idealizations of love and women. However, one of the most significant and effective ways in which Swift channels our attention toward the deception of beauty and sex is by seeing the entire episode through Strephon's eyes, sneaking into Strephon's bedroom. Celia and experiment with him. listing disgusting items. “Sweat, dandruff, powder, lead and hair” (ll. 24) increase in intense repugnance as the verse continues, and the combination of the triple phrasing, the repetitive “to be” and “and” and the onomatopoeic rhymes in "Begummed, degreased and slimy;/With soiled dirt, sweat and earwax" (ll. 45-6) almost itself imitates the way the offending substances attach themselves to dirty towels. The plosive "For here she spits, and here she spits" (ll. 42) emphasizes the shock of both Strephon and (the moralist Swift hopes) the reader, at discovering the unromanticized truth about women, all like when “Corinna wakes up”. . A terrible spectacle! (A beautiful young nymph, ll. 57). Here, the only creatures waiting to welcome her, far removed from the romanticism of a handsome male, are vermin and fleas determined to destroy her further! Once again, the juxtaposition of the presumed hope of sexual intercourse and the grotesque reality not only destroys any idealization of the female body, but also seems to destroy eroticism itself, with Swift seeing them as almost synonymous. It is not the one who "shits" who is ridiculed, but the one who, in his naivety, could not believe in reality - a reality which, by eclipsing any trace of sexual romance for the characters, also destroys any illusion of erotic impulse. the reader might cherish it. Just as he does with these two poems, Swift uses Strephon and Chloe to expound the idealistic notions of Petrarchan love, and the frustrated love and courtship take on a new intensity and meaning as thecorporeal realities are posed as the complete negation of conventions. classic romance. The structure of the poem is similar to that of a traditional courtly love poem, with the glorification of the woman, marriage and eventual consummation (after the woman's necessary resistance). However, from the beginning, Swift subverts this form, cleverly parodying it, first in an elusive way, then in a more scandalous way. Although he describes Chloe as "flawless", he subtly undermines this by describing many disgusting things that she is not: No gross tempers, nor crinkly flows, No foul odors, nor sweaty flows (ll. 11-12) Enlighten the reader that “her armpits would not stain her dress” (ll. 22) and that she was never found “squatting on her hams to make the servant's water” (ll. 18) actually draws attention to some pretty disgusting spectacles, and immediately leads us to imagine the exact opposite: that Chloe actually participates in such activities! Traditionally, medieval and Romantic poets attempting to sum up a woman's beauty might write around the subject, using simile and metaphor, rather than tersely emphasizing a negative image! Plus, the many classic references make it feel like a classic courtly romance, going "Oh my God, what sound is that?/Chloe, can heavenly Chloe pee?" (ll. 177-9) all the more insulting. The humorous idea that his bride's consumption of far too much tea and pudding at the wedding party ruined any hope the groom had of consummating the marriage appears to the reader as an exemplary fabliau, with Chloe's urination propelling the descent of the poem in the bathos. Surprisingly though, Swift then begins to present this strange situation in the idealized manner of the beginning of the poem, as the two "learn to call a spade, a spade" (ll. 204). Medieval romance is ignored, as signified by the dissolution of traditionally medieval personifications of decency, beauty, desire, etc. Swift thus provides another, more unique and clever example of idealization to subvert this illusion with what appears to be her belief in a properly balanced view of women - that they should be "decent", but not idealized. In the stanza that extends from lines 271 to 282, Swift's multiple half-rhymes tear the verse apart just as the poet tugs at the reader's preconceptions of femininity, implying that women and sex will never respond to expectations: Why will you make a bubble? Building on sand with hay and thatch? (ll. 305-6) Swift seems to target his derision not only at fornication, for Strephon and Chloe are already married, but, more broadly, at the idealization and perhaps obsession with sex in general. Strephon's eye escape[s]' (ll. 47), but the reader's eye also scrutinizes every rancid object Swift manicures in his verse. Nevertheless, it is not only Strephon and the reader's eyes that are drawn to the fascinating and detailed unfolding of the narrative, but, as Nokes observes, "Swift takes forensic pleasure in lifting the silk petticoats to expose this which lies beneath. It is this "delight" present in Swift's visual elaboration that prompts critics such as Geoffrey Hill to cast doubt on Swift's true morality; that despite Swift's deliberate Juvenalian invectives, his poetry somehow managed to "free itself" from the entrenched moralistic attitude of its self-deceived author. It is certainly true that Swift has a sensitive awareness of the human condition. In A Beautiful Young Nymph, as the real Corinna is revealed, body details already examined.