ABSTRACT
Swift’s relationships with women Much recent literary criticism has considered Swift’s attitude to women over a range of issues. Does what we know from his bio graphy reveal unacceptable male dominance, particularly with regard to Stella? Do his writings represent women in patriarchal or misogy nist fashion? Some see Swift as imprisoning and others as liberat ing.1 Complicating the debate are aesthetic concerns such as how relevant is the biography to textual analysis; how valid is the bio graphical interpretation; what is an appropriate rendering of femin inity. In addition, Swift’s writings include material that is scatological, often in relation to representation of the female body. The link between excrement and sex is therefore another issue, given human physiology. For example, Yeats, writing in 1931, has Crazy Jane argue with a bishop, who represents religion and respectability, that there is the necessity of ‘fair and foul’ consorting together for
Love has pitched his mansion in The place of excrement.
