Genre
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels: Genre 1 key example

Genre
Explanation and Analysis:

Gulliver's Travels was published during the Augustan literary period, which began in Britain during the reign of Queen Anne and ended during the reign of King George II. The term "Augustan" is drawn from the essay Epistle to Augustus by the great British poet and satirist Alexander Pope. In this essay, which is an imitation of a work by the Ancient Roman poet and satirist Horace, Pope compares his own age to that of Augustus, during which poetry became more political and satirical than it had been during the reign of Julius Caesar. The Augustan era in Britain, by contrast, featured the development of the novel as well as the evolution of drama and poetry, but it is mainly remembered as a golden age of prose satire. Although several British writers, including Pope, produced satire during this period, many scholars agree that Jonathan Swift was the era's most influential satirist. His ironic, superficially calm style and biting criticism of human society set the standard for all other satire produced during this era.