A Satirical Elegy On The Death Of A Late Famous General Comments

What genius! Where to start: the unforgiving sarcasm, the biting wit, the precious little jewels strewn about, like the brilliant triple alliterative line: " Ye bubbles raised by breath of kings." It calls to mind every kiss-up and toady who ever served a king - or president. No wonder Byron saw himself the true heir of Swift and Pope, and felt noting but disdain for his pansy contemporaries.

With of the great things about Swift's writing is its absolute lack of pretension and there isn't a trace of 'poetic' writing in this famous satire. This is the true poetry of the spoken word. Only at the conclusion is Swift tempted to fall a little too much into moralism.