Read more
Mi era capitato di addormentarmi sulla schiena
I had happened to fall asleep on my back
e ora le mie braccia e le mie gambe erano fissate a terra
and now my arms and legs were fastened to the ground
e anche i miei capelli, lunghi e folti, erano legati
and my hair, which was long and thick, was tied down too
Potevo solo guardare verso l'alto
I could only look upwards
Il sole cominciò a diventare caldo
The sun began to grow hot
e la luce mi faceva male agli occhi
and the light hurt my eyes
Ho sentito un rumore confuso intorno a me
I heard a confused noise around me
ma non riusciva a vedere altro che il cielo
but could see nothing except the sky
In poco tempo ho sentito qualcosa di vivo
In a little time I felt something alive
si muoveva sulla mia gamba sinistra
it was moving on my left leg
About the author
Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and is less well known for his poetry. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms - such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, the Drapier - or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles. His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".
