Did Jonathan Swift ever sail?

Question

In *Gulliver's Travels* by Jonathan Swift, Swift describes Gulliver, a ship's doctor sailing and getting ship wrecked in various locations by various means. However, he does not go into as much detail in the actual description of sailing as he does other actions. Was this because Swift hadn't sailed much or at all?

Answer 1

Johnathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1667. He died in Dublin, Ireland in 1745. Johnathan Swift did sail but only between Dublin, Ireland, and England. His books were written for three reasons:

1. A critical and sarcastic view of the state of European government, and of inconsequential differences between the Christian religions.
2. To try to answer an eternal question still asked today, "Is man born corrupt or does he become corrupt?"
3. Which point of view should we hold today? The ancient philosophers or the "philosophers" of today?

I find it quite interesting that the questions he was trying to answer are questions that we still "grapple" with today.

Hope this helps by making you "think" about these eternal questions.....Yasmin