''A Meditation Upon a Broomstick'' is a short

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

and

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

written by

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

in 1701. It was first published by Edmund Curll in 1710, against Swift's wishes. The book is a parody of

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, Alchemy, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the foun ...

's meditations and their religious themes. Swift's meditations on the fate of men are intentionally

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

Origins

The satire's origins lie in Swift's time at Moor Park, Surrey, when he acted as Secretary to William Temple. While in the household, Swift would read passages from

's '' Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects'' (1665) for the young

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was an Englishwoman known to have been a close friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public ...

("Stella" to Swift). Boyle's ''Reflections'' took the form of meditations on everyday subjects, where they were likened to religious themes. Boyle would consider a fire, or house cleaning, and see in it a reflection of God's relationship to man, or man to his soul. These reflections were very popular in the Temple household. One day, Swift, being bored with the predictability of Boyle's points, wrote his own ''Meditation'' and put it into the book. When the time came to read for the day, he read, instead of Boyle, his own ''Meditation Upon a Broomstick''. The ladies of the house did not catch on until near the end of the meditation that it was absurd. Swift later wrote up the one-page Meditation in a more formal manner.

Publication

Edmund Curll, in an attempt to antagonize and siphon off money from Swift, published it in 1710 from a manuscript stolen from Swift (which forced Swift to publish a corrected and authorized version that he also had to write from memory).

Style of the work

To get a flavor of the ''Meditation'', consider the last paragraph: The ''Meditation'' begins with a rational moral comparison and proceeds to a frenzy of increasingly unlikely comparisons. While the satire begins with a pitch-perfect imitation of the kindly Boyle's tone, it ends in a frantic,

misanthropic Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, or distrust of the human species, human behavior, or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. Misanthropy involves a negative evaluative attitude tow ...

and

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

note of despair and

nihilism Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that Existential nihilism, life is meaningless, that Moral nihilism, moral values are baseless, and ...

. While it begins with a hopeful call to self-examination, it moves eventually into a condemnation of all efforts at improvement.

References

External links

*
Short Story Project website
Online copy {{DEFAULTSORT:Meditation Upon A Broomstick 1701 books 1710 books Parody books Satirical books Works by Jonathan Swift Nihilist works Brooms Robert Boyle