ABSTRACT
The political aftermath of the English Revolution and the settlement which followed it provides the historical context of Swift's Proposal. In particular the emergence of a newly powerful bourgeoisie and its effect in public life are concerns with which Swift is engaged in the form of attempting to correct the language. As a major Tory pamphleteer Swift was radically opposed to the liberalising tendencies of the emergent class and it is this which leads him to treat linguistic change as a cipher for historical change. In both cases he is implacably at odds with novelty and innovation, seeing such developments as signs merely of degeneracy and a falling off from the standards of a golden age.
