The Disillusionment of Man's Ideal for Woman
Many of Swift's poems focus on the relationship between men and women, often presenting the idea of disillusionment of the man's ideal for the woman through the lens of satire. Swift presents bodily functions as a huge disappointment to his men. The paragon examples are "Strephon and Chloe" who continue to miss one another romantically because Strephon is horrified every time he learns something about Chloe's physical body. Another example is "Cadenus and Vanessa" for he did not believe before marriage that women defecate and was so upset when he learned the contrary that he believed his beautiful wife Vanessa had violated her marriage vows by tricking him. Through this repeated theme Swift presents men as clueless, assumptive creatures who's affections for women are fickle because they cannot come to terms with their own physical, bodily existence. Swift writes to contradict the idealization of women by exploring forbidden topics like the bedroom and the bathroom.
Humor in Death
As humor is central to all of Swift's poetry, unsurprisingly he treats death rather flippantly. In two satirical elegies -- "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" and "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D." -- Swift dishonors the normally sacred format of the speech. Apparently Swift's primary motivation in these two elegies is to shock his audience by dishonoring the dead. In the first poem he writes about a general who had a reputation for hating the British for their treatment of the Irish. Swift shows no respect for the man in his passing, instead using the opportunity to subvert every expectation of what should be contained within an elegy. The poem thus becomes a platform for Swift to present his own Anti-Irish sentiments and to pick a fight with a silent, dead man. In the second poem, Swift once more uses satire to consider what his friends might think of him after his own death. He writes his own eulogy which ignores ceremony for the sake of asserting his own ideas about decorum, temporality, and individuals whom he knows.
Subversion of Expectation
Swift takes a confrontational stance in all of his poems, eager to subvert his readers expectations. This looks like exploring taboo subject matters, applying humor where it is traditionally inappropriate, over-sharing, and even, occasionally writing a "normal" poem.
Poems like "Strephon and Chloe," "Cassinus and Peter," and "The Lady's Dressing Room" all use explicit subjects to make the reader uncomfortable. Swift writes about sex and excrement often, forcing his readers to reconcile that these bodily functions not only exist but play an essential role in adult relationships.
Among his satirical poems are "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D." and "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" which both place death amidst the realm of humor where it has previously been forbidden. This is a persistently controversial decision on Swift's part.
Additionally, he confronts readers by writing altogether such personal poetry that leaves the reader wondering whether they even cared to know such juicy details about Swift's private life. "Stella's Birthday, 1721" and the other birthday poems he writes to his secret lover fall into this category. Their relationship was a well-kept secret until Swift decided to publish these poems.
Finally, "A Description of a City Shower" and "A Description of the Morning," published in close succession, take opposing authorial stances. Swift will occasionally engage in more traditional poetry, attempting to describe the mundane through eloquence and vague allusions. Then, in poems like "A Description of the Morning" and "Drapier's Hill" surprise readers by their straight-forward elegance. As is present in all of Swift's other poems, there is no element of confrontation at all in these poems, in turn making them confrontational to frequent readers of Swift's.
