Swift, Blake and Social Hegemony

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer maintains that the argument that the "purpose of good literature" is not - as Sir Philip Sidney argued - "to teach, to delight" and "move to virtuous action" but to challenge social hegemony by destabilizing its core values is a controversial one. This essay argues the thesis, with reference to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and William Blake's "London", that while literary works are not simply political statement or social criticism, good literary works nonetheless engage with their cultural context in a critical and complex way. As is seen, while both Swift's and Blake's works have clear political and social dimensions, it is their literary qualities that give them their potency as powerful social critiques.

From the Paper:

"This being said, it may be argued that this view of literature is simplistic and limited in many respects. Literary works are not created in a vacuum but instead, capture their audiences by their engagement with the social contexts in which they are created. However, unlike political tracts or social critiques which are rarely remembered beyond the immediate circumstances in which they were created, good literature resonates beyond its immediate context - even when it has a clear political or social purpose - due to the power of its writing. This power allows these works to transcend the particulars of the social order they criticize or destabilize, and reflect something of the universal in humanity's social constructions."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Blake, William. "London." Introduction to Literature. Ed. Peter Paolucci. Toronto: Pearson Custom Library, 2006, 123.
• Lambert, Stephen. "Blake's 'London'." Explicator. 53.3 (1995): 141-143.
• Richardson, John. "Swift's 'A Modest Proposal' and Slavery." Essays in Criticism. 51.4 (2001): 404-423.
• Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal. http://www.online-literature.com/swift/947/

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