"Who was Jonathan Swift? Bruce Arnold's book examines this enigmatic figure in the light of his relationships - with his lover Esther Van Homrigh ('Vanessa'), his ward Esther Johnson ('Stella'), his patron Sir William Temple, and his male friends Congreve, Bolingbroke, Harley, Addison, Thomas Sheridan, and others. Though often criticized as a misanthrope, Swift can only be properly understood if we recognize his love of humanity and his capacity for friendship. Arnold traces this theme from Swift's youth in Ireland to his literary and political apprenticeship at Moor Park in Surrey, and on through the years of greatness - the brilliant satires and pamphlets, the Church diplomacy at the Court of Queen Anne, and the great writings of his maturity as Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin: the Drapier's Letters, A Modest Proposal, and Gulliver's Travels. Swift's long and varied life is illustrated through contemporary engravings of the places he lived in, the people he knew, and the figures who defined his age."--BOOK JACKET.