ABSTRACT
From Shakespeare to Wordsworth, the poor in literature continued to be tarnished as they were in the Middle Ages, as lazy vagrants, rogues, tricksters, and fakes, in Cervantes or John Gay for example, though other writers, such as Ben Jonson and Molière attacked the rich. Some questioned the use of charity. To Daniel Defoe, people should be self-sufficient, charity stultified initiative: Robinson Crusoe was created on one level as a role model for a man who looked after himself, and was not dependent on others. Ireland was a different matter, as seen in Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ (1729); and later 18th-century writers, including Fielding, Johnson, and Goldsmith, were markedly sympathetic to the poor. The young Wordsworth, inspired by the egalitarian ideals of the Revolution, favoured radical solutions.
