Essays on A Modest Proposal

- Brief biography of the author. Jonathan Swift was born on November 30 in 1667, His family of Anglo-Irish Protestant lived in Dublin, Ireland. His father died a little time before he was born, and his mother had to return to England and left her son in the care of relatives because of poverty. He was well educated: first at Kilkenny Grammar School, which was, at the time, the best in Ireland then at Trinity College in Dublin, though he was not a very good student. In 1689 Swift went to England and became secretary to Sir William Temple at ...

Part one

‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift is about how to solve the issue of hunger. Jonathan begins by describing people who are living in the streets. The streets are filled with starving beggars. Jonathan Swift uses ethos, pathos and logos to make a strong case for his suggestion of using babies as a source of food. He does establish his credibility, and he shows the readers his logic throughout his proposal. He does back up all the points raised in the proposal with hard evidence and facts. He does show how the consumption of infants would support everyone.

Pathos refers to ...

Would you consider Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” to be a literary piece or more directly political in nature and why?

First published in London in 1729, Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a famous piece of satirical writing which criticizes the attitude of the establishment of England towards Ireland as a whole and in particular to the poor people of Ireland. The history of England’s relationship with Ireland has for centuries been fraught with controversy and frequently marred by violence, even in the modern era. From an Irish point of view, England has been guilty of treating Ireland as a colony and of regarding the Irish themselves with prejudice – because of their ethnicity and because of their adherence ...

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the satirical essay ‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift (1729) and the surprises in it that appear through the text and towards the ending. Jonathan Swift in his essay tries to bring forward the plight of misery of the people of Ireland under the English rule. The paper also tries to explain how that period’s key social, cultural and artistic contributions contributed to historical changes. Further in a historical context it runs through the importance of the cultural and artistic expressions of the society at that time. The paper also tries to observe the influences of ...

When many people think of satire, they understand that it is a subversive approach to a certain social or political issue through the use of irony. Works like the Earl of Rochester’s “A Satire Against Reason and Mankind,” Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal or John Dryden’s MacFlecknoe all make fun of some perceived failing of its audience, whether it be the “Satire’s poking fun at rationalism and reason, Swift’s pointing out of the problems facing Ireland as a result of English ignorance, or Dryden’s ridiculing of his contemporaries’ inadequate literary criticism. However, to what end do ...

Annotated Bibliography

Bohn, William E. “The Development of John Dryden’s Literary Criticism.” PMLA 22.1 (1907): 56-139. In Bohn’s article, the author discusses Dryden’s critical essays, particularly in terms of his use of satire. Here, Bohn notes the way in which Dryden used a satire as its own form of criticism; “satire is itself but a sort of criticism; it has always been the form assumed by the highly trained, versifying prose-understanding” (118). Dryden was never one to give literary judgments one at a time, but rather to convey his ideas in a more abstract way, which is where his ...

1 . Socrates suddenly awakes and finds himself in medieval France. At a bookstore he buys a copy of Montaigne and reads “Of Cannibals” and “Of Coaches.” Would he agree with Montaigne’s ideas? If so, with what would he agree? With what would he disagree? In writing your answer, be sure to describe Socrates’ (or Greek) philosophy and what was different in Montaigne’s time. Despite the disparity between the early modern Europe and the ancient Athens, it is possible to find some affinities underlying the ideas of Socrates and Montaigne. However, if Socrates suddenly awoke and found himself in ...

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal (1729) gives an example of the straight-faced satire concerning social illnesses. The author mocks socio-economic situation in Ireland. The narrator offers the solution of overpopulation and the mistreatment of citizens in Ireland. So the poor should sell one year children to the rich as food in order to solve the problem of poverty and starvation in Ireland. Swift, of course, understood that society was and is far from ideal. Therefore, his irony often has such a stunning bright ideas and details that take them as the truth is almost impossible. The purpose of Swift’ ...

Loranger (3) considers “A modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift to contain satire since it is written in a critique persona. The author portrays outrage to the economic and political situation in Ireland. The author claims that the remedy of poverty by the Irish Children is to sell them to the opulence in the society. Swift succeeds in the use of the voice of an economist with other literal techniques such as metaphors and irony. The modest proposal by Swift includes alternatives to the issue of children coupled with calculations to show benefits for the suggestion. The book is one of ...

All over the country many poor children, mostly Catholics lived in squalor as their families were extremely poor to feed them and keep them clothed. Jonathan Swift has argued, with hard-edged economic reasoning in addition to the self-righteous moral stance, for finding way to turn the problem into a solution. His proposal is to fatten up the undernourished Irish children and feed them to the rich Irish land-owners. Children from poor families could be bought and sold in the meat market from the age of one year, he has argued, this will combat the unemployment and overpopulation, sparing families at ...

Discussion Board Questions

Question 1 “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift contains many aspects that are difficult to understand. One of the aspects that Swift constantly uses in his work and that are one of the major sources of understanding difficult is irony. I experienced great difficulty in understanding the poem because of the presence of irony. The irony is demonstrated at the story’s end where Swift states that his proposal would not in any way affect him because all of his children have matured and his wife is unable to give birth anymore. It is actually absurd to imagine ...

Swift begins A Modest Proposal” with seeming concern for the mothers and children of Ireland who are reduced to the gravest poverty by their British overlords. His gravest concern is for the children. There are so many in each family that every parent is so burdened by the everyday care of the children that they do not have ability to work to support them. The mothers and children are reduced to begging in the streets. Swift is concerned for a solution for how these children, to provide for them so that they will be an asset rather than a burden. ...

Introduction

Association, American . " Understanding the Issues." Use of Animals in Biomedical Research: 07.3 (2008): 12-19. Print. Human over many years are known for killing animals only for foods but it has now turn out the practice is being performed for other purposes which include for the use of medicinal research. The use of animals as research subjects in a medical study has been widely condemned due to it tendency of violating animals rights and it unlawful goes against the will of those that support animals for generation of income in terms of tourist attraction. The use of biomedical ...

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, the surprise ending was the author’s proposition to sell one-year old babies of impoverished families to rich and affluent citizens of Ireland for the purpose of being served as cooked gourmet dishes in different culinary techniques or methods. The point of realization that the ending would be different from what the beginning of the reading suggested that it would be, was actually introduced in the seventh paragraph when the author initially indicated that children were being seriously regarded as commodities through the computations stated therein: “I am assured by our merchants, ...

One of the most famous satirical pieces of all time is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Although the issues contained within the text are aimed specifically at the political and economic situation in Ireland and England during the early eighteenth century, the thematic ideas that Swift develops so effectively in his work remain important to this day. Swift utilizes satire and wordplay to underscore the oppression of the Irish by the English, and in doing so, creates one of the longest-lived pieces of social and political satire and sustained irony of all time. Religion in England, Ireland, ...

I used two 20th Century sources about the demographic and economic conditions of Ireland at the time Swift write “A Modest Proposal”, and in my opinion these would have strengthened the paper overall by placing it in a more detailed historical context. Neither of the articles would have changed my basic conclusions that Ireland was suffering from extreme poverty, hunger and poverty because of England’s colonial policies. They would have offered further proof of my main thesis that even though Swift’s essay was intended only to be satire, he had a very serious political purpose. In my opinion, during ...

A persuasive work comes from the need to persuade others of the goal or perspective they wish to provide in the work. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a famous open letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1963. After he was arrested for participating a nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama as part of the Civil Rights Movement, he wrote this letter to address several concerns he had about the concepts of racial segregation and the ideas of racism present in America at the time, particularly the South. Pathos is used by Martin Luther King, Jr., to appeal to the audience ...

A Modest Proposal: Ending, the Revelation of Good Will

For Jonathan Swift to write his work, "A Modest Proposal," he must have a strong feeling of revolt against the mistreatment to the Irish people during his time. The piece is written in satire, a social commentary of the nineteenth-century England. The turning point of his argument is only being revealed towards the ending. Surprise Ending. Swift used paralipsis in his ending. If my analysis is correct, my interpretation to Swift's ending is that he is suggesting a reform in which he introduced in an opposite matter. Here's the reform he was suggesting: 1) compensating the non-contributing citizens; 2) patronizing organically grown ...

Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a successful piece of writing which addresses the problem of poverty in Ireland at the time. The use of satire is entirely appropriate and effective, and the piece is still popular centuries after it was written. Swift’s use of rhetoric successfully evokes in the reader a sense of outrage at the speaker and a sympathy towards the Irish. On reading A Modest Proposal, the reader realises it isn’t a straight forward essay by the second paragraph in which he speaks of making small children useful members of society (Swift, 1729). However, it is only ...

Jonathan Swift in his work, A Modest Proposal shows a ‘surprise ending’ that changes the readers previously presumed perception. When he highlights the problems that infants cause along the streets or on their mothers’ backs, one may think that he has got a humble solution to it all. This becomes not the case for he suggests that the infants flesh be sold to the rich as source of their food. When Jonathan embraces the idea of making use of his thoughts about the many underprivileged people who are old and malnourished, it is evident that the conclusion of all he ...