The Battle of the Books
by
Jonathan Swift
(Analysis)
The Battle of the Books contains a satirical
account of the controversy that had been going on for some time in England with
regard to the comparative merits of the ancient authors and modern authors. In
this controversy Sir William Temple and Charles Boyle had emerged as the
champions of the ancient writers and ancient learning, while William Wotton and
Richard Bentley had taken up the opposite stand and had argued that the Moderns
were by no means inferior to the ancients and that in fact the Letters
attributed to Phalaris had not been written by Phalaris and that, likewise, the
fables attributed to Aesop had been written not by Aesop but by somebody else
belonging to later times.
Swift
wrote The Battle of the Books in order to support the thesis which had been put
forward by his patron, Sir William Temple, who had claimed that the ancient
authors were superior in wisdom and learning to the modern authors. Swift
imagines that a dispute started among the books lying on the shelves of St.
James’s Library in London. In this dispute the books written by modern authors claimed
that they were superior to those written by ancient author, made a counter
claim. Thus, Swift gives a comic turn to the controversy. To imagine that a
quarrel has occurred between books belonging to two different parties is
certainly very amusing. Swift further imagines that the dispute between the two
groups of books led to a regular battle, and so he proceeds to describe that
battle. As Swift uses warlike phraseology in describing the combatants and the
battle, we have here what is known as a mock-epic. In a serious or true epic, a
real battle between heroes is described but here an imaginary battle between
books is described in the kind of language which an epic writer would employ in
connection with a battle between warriors.
Swift
begins with the view that disputes and wars are generally started by those who
are needy and poor against those, who are prosperous and well-to-do. He
illustrates this remark from what he describes as the republic of dogs. He
wants indirectly to convey to us the idea that the Moderns started a war
against the Ancients on the ground that the former were lacking in those
treasures of the mind which were in the possession of the Ancients.
The
very notion that books can fight a battle has a mock-epic suggestion about it. Swift
uses some military terms such as “light-horse”, “heavy-armed foot” and
“mercenaries”. “Light-horse” refers to the non-epic poets. “Heavy-armed foot”
refers to historians. And “mercenaries” refer to those who had no interest in
the actual fight but who were supporting the Moderns. Not only that; the Moderns
talk of their horses whom they have themselves reared and of their weapons
which they have themselves manufactured. The mention of arms, weapons, and
horses in the context of books certainly contributes to the mock-epic effect.
The
famous spider-and-bee episode which, in an allegorical form, establishes a
contrast between the Ancient and the Moderns. The allegorical significance of
the debate between the spider and the bee is clearly brought out by the speech
which is made by Aesop. The chief point of contrast is that the so-called
originality of the Moderns merely means narrow-mindedness and superficiality
while the Ancients show a wider range and a larger vision by their readiness
and their keenness to collect their materials from all Nature and all life.
another point of contrast is that while the books of the Moderns contain only
wrangling and satire the books of the Ancients are instrumental in spreading sweetness
and light.
Jove
or Jupiter gave certain appropriate orders to his subordinates to determine the
issue of the battle which was about to begin. Momus, the good of jealous
criticism, got into touch with the goddess Criticism and urged her to go to the
help of the Moderns. The intervention of gods and goddesses is an epic device
which was used by Homer and Virgil. Swift, however, makes use of it as a
mock-epic device.
The
battle is so described that the Ancients clearly have the upper hand even when
a particular encounter ends in a compromise like the one between Virgil and
Dryden. The superiority of the Ancients is nowhere in doubt. The most
remarkable features of this account of the battle are its mock-epic character
and its satirical quality. Authors (or the books written by these authors) are
treated as warriors wielding weapons and arms and attacking one another. Now,
to use the martial language for a literary dispute gives to this account a
mock-epic character.
Swift
makes fun of Wotton for his inability to drink the water of Helicon. What Swift
means to say here is that Wotton did not have any genuine literary talent and
that it was for this reason that Apollo disallowed him to drink the water from
a spring which was sacred to Apollo and to the Muses. Then Swift goes on to
make fun of both the friends or collaborators, Wotton and Bentley. The final paragraph
ends with some very amusing lines in which Sift says that Charon, the ferryman
of Hades, would mistake the two friends, Wotton and Bentley, as one person.
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