Cover of Baucis And Philemon by Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift

Baucis And Philemon

First published 1709 · Public Domain28 pagesJohn Morphew
FictionSatireClassics

Read Free or Buy

Search Project Gutenberg
Bookshop.org Amazon ThriftBooks

As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Disclosure

About This Book

Baucis and Philemon is a satirical poem by Jonathan Swift, imitated from the Eighth Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses and first published in 1709. Swift transplants the classical myth of the hospitable elderly couple from ancient Phrygia to a village in Kent, where two wandering hermits — disguised saints — go begging door to door without success until the kindly Philemon invites them in. As a reward, the saints transform the couple's humble cottage into a church, with Philemon installed as parson. In a darkly comic twist on Ovid, both are eventually turned not into a noble oak and linden but into yew trees in the churchyard. The poem was extensively revised at Joseph Addison's suggestion, cut from 230 to 178 lines — a rare documented example of the editorial process behind one of the era's greatest writers.

About the Author

Jonathan Swift
1667 – 1745

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and Anglican cleric whose scathing prose made him one of the most formidable writers in the English language. Born in Dublin to English parents, he was educated at Trinity College and later ordained in the Church of Ireland. His early masterpiece A Tale of a Tub (1704) established his reputation for savage irony, while the political pamphlets he wrote on behalf of both Whigs and Tories gave him enormous influence. Gulliver's Travels (1726), published anonymously, became an instant classic — outwardly a fantastic voyage narrative, inwardly a corrosive indictment of human pride and institutional folly. Appointed Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Swift championed Irish causes, most memorably in A Modest Proposal (1729). His later years were shadowed by illness, but his literary legacy as the supreme satirist of his age endures.

Publication Details

First Published1709
PublisherJohn Morphew
Pages28
ISBN9781294453796
LanguageEn
CopyrightPublic Domain
Open LibraryView editions