A Meditation Upon A Broomstick by Jonathan Swift. Short summary

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An ironic reflection on the «natural man.» The author likens him to a broom, for man is a creature standing on his head. Culture denigrates man, just as a broom is a caricature of a tree.

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The author looks at the broom and remembers that parts of it were once a tree. It was covered with leaves, full of life. But the craftsman’s hands carved a stick, cut off the twigs and attached them to a holder. Now the broom is forced to keep other things clean, itself remaining dirty.

But isn’t man like that? He can safely be likened to a broom. Obedient to «culture,» he wears a wig of hair that never grew on his head. He denounces the vices of others, seeking to cleanse society, but he himself is covered with a layer of dirt and dust.

Man is a creature standing on his head, just as a broom is a tree upside down with its roots upside down. Man has his brain where his feet should be, in the lowly realm. All his life, man has found joy in lowly pleasures. It’s no surprise when, in his old age, he is tossed to the scrapheap.