A Modest Proposal, By Johnathan Swift

The Restoration period was the time when society stopped searching for reasons why things happened and started to focus on the processes at which they came about. The works of literature of the time greatly reflect the change in viewpoints during the Restoration. Instead of literature being focused on ornamental language, such as metaphors, Literature became more concentrated on logic and facts and drew inspiration from the “New Classical” style which is from Greek, Latin, and Roman models. Because of the growing middle class during the Restoration, writers began to shift from poems with metaphors and prose to novels and satire that appealed more to a growing middle class. Works such as Paradise Lost by John Milton, “A Modest Proposal” by

Johnathan Swift is most known for his satire and one of his best works is his “A Modest Proposal”. His “Modest Proposal” was published in a pamphlet in 1729 and was a cause for unrest. When people begin reading it, it seems to be stating real concerns about the Irish poor and how their child population is homeless and turning to crime. While taking on the many issues, Swift begins to hint that he has a solution to the problem at hand and because of his convincing and serious tone people believe that he really has some solution to the problem. As people read on however, they begin to realize that the solution he is offering is to make the one year old children a commodity by selling them as a delicacy. At the time when people read this they were outraged at his horrendous and ludicrous idea, but after a while they began to realize that Swift was writing satire about the Irish poor being taken advantage of by the rich English landlords. His “A Modest Proposal” was a criticism of the English who took advantage of the poor Irish by suggesting that they take their children as a delicacy, and Swifts proposal was also directed at the Irish workers who let the English landlords take advantage of them without doing anything about it. Johnathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is considered one of the best and earliest works of political satire and is used as a benchmark of the