Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, but he is better remembered today as one of the finest satirists in the English language.
His works include A Tale of a Tub (1074) and A Modest Proposal (1729), but Gulliver's Travels (1726) is Swift's masterpiece. In this satire, Swift makes fun of politics and some of the important people of his time. In each of its four parts the hero, Lemuel Gulliver, goes on a voyage, but he ends up shipwrecked on a strange island. In Part One, Gulliver is thrown into the sea during a storm. He reaches dry land in Lilliput where he meets the tiny Lilliputians.