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Use Of Satire In A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

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In A Modest Proposal, we see an extreme use of literary devices and satire to help persuade the reader into supporting the author, Jonathan Swift, solution to poverty around him. Swift specifically uses hyperbole throughout the writing to create satire. One example of a hyperbole that stood out to me was “a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed , roasted, baked, or boiled;¨ (Swift 62-63). Swift uses this hyperbole to create satire by making an exaggerated comment about eating a child as if it’s any regular meal. He even lists multiple ways in which a child can be cooked, using such a detailed description with intriguing words allows the reader to be convinced this is …show more content…

He does this by making people think critically about the problems that surround poverty and that his solution can be justified. Swift brings up topics such as abortion, mistreatment of people from their landlords, desperation of the poor, physical abuse from spouses and so much more. Using satire draws attention to the issue, it’s pointing out society flaws and making you deal with it. The literary devices used have many things in common, for example being extremely ironic, exaggerated and humorous. With all these things combined Swift had the perfect satirical reasoning to convince others his solution was the best for …show more content…

The poet is mixing a bit of reality and imagination within the poem and painting. He is creating the horse in the beginning of the poem then literally rides off on said horse in the end. Another thing, the whole symbolism behind the violin and how you can infer he handed the violin to the nude lady in the picture. You can also create your meaning and reason as to why the strings were simply unattached at the end. Lastly you have the bizarre aspect that Felinghetti literally says the painting is going to become famous. This poem leaves you with a lot of questions and self interruption. Every aspect of the poem is symbolic to that exact

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262 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout my modest proposal, there are many variations of satire used, and some are present more than once. Exaggeration is present in the case with the kid and his American History 101 test. The problem of something so miniscule in this world is dragged out to something so devastating that the kid can not get any sleep, his face turned pale and he could not walk right. The same form of satire is used in Becky’s problem relating to her prom pictures of 2017. She is so worried about a zit appearing on her face that she cannot think about anything else, and that thought consumes her brain every second of the day.

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156 Words | 1 Pages

There are so many ways to take everything and there are multiple responses to them as well. Responses, while they may be normal, can also challenge the status quo of the time period. In the essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by coming up with outrageous ideas, using sarcasm and satire, and coming up with actual ideas that would change life forever. During Jonathan’s time, no one would ever think about children being the economic problem or even eating the children. He threw out these ideas that were completely different but could solve the problem.

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486 Words | 2 Pages

Using irony, diction, and sarcasm to convey his purpose. Swift states that the poor Irish should sell off their children and if they were animals such as cattle or just eat the children themselves. Swifts tone is sort of like mocking so that he is able to say that he does not support cannibalism but is just using it as a metaphor. Swifts uses information to back up his claim.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

Popular essayist and satirist, Jonathan Swift, in his pamphlet, “A Modest Proposal,” (which at first was anonymously published) is proposing a solution to end the famine in Ireland. He adopts a sarcastic and straightforward tone in order to explain his outrageous proposal to the Irish public. Swift’s purpose is to bring to light the terrible situation of the Irish people and to propose a way to fix it. In this pamphlet, he proposes to end the famine by outrageously suggesting eating and selling Irish children. Swift begins his pamphlet by describing the sad and poor Irish streets with mothers and child beggars in rags.

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703 Words | 3 Pages

A modest Proposal is a satirical writing that goes over the mind set of the rich towards the poor starving children in Ireland at the time. Jonathan Swift uses a number of rhetorical strategies while he tries to highlight insane ideas in his proposal. Swift uses metaphors, repetition and logical fallacies as well as humor, sarcasm and satire tone to bring about some ridiculous ideas to fix Ireland. In order to really understand what works and what doesn’t, one must truly understand the background behind Swifts idea.

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947 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal was not his true goal. Jonathan Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the

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576 Words | 3 Pages

For example on page 2 Swift says “so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends.” statements like this make Swift’s proposal even more outrageous. This is a sarcastic attempt by Swift to make the proposal look attractive, but his statement has an underlying meaning of making the idea look repulsive. Additionally on page 2 Swift states “That a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food.”

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826 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout “A Modern Proposal,” Swift makes it a point to use ideas and terms that dehumanized people and their children. This causes the essay to make the reader feel uncomfortable and slightly detached from the world. It appeals to the moral side of people. Many people use this kind of method when writing in order to make the readers feel more sentimental. When people feel more sentimental towards a cause, they are more likely to stand up and stop being so

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834 Words | 4 Pages

Swift’s satire consisted of many “modest theories.” For example, you may have heard people talk about overpopulation. You may have your own theories about it, but what about eating children? In this instance, Jonathan Swift used his form of humor, also known as satire, to get his point across, in which wrote a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal,” a mockery for the ideas of how to deal with overpopulation. “Satire is a technique employed by writers to

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739 Words | 3 Pages

As an element within satire, Swift uses irony to further his tongue-in-cheek essay. In such cases, his examples are written in the opposite of what he means in ways that direct the true meaning (Ehrenpreis 309). The imagery and language Swift pens is intended to promote awareness of the impoverished and the public's duty to solve it, but in actuality, his pithy remarks show he does not care for the poor or even see them as human beings. His proposal suggests this because otherwise the speaker would not advocate selling children in poverty to be consumed by the

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793 Words | 4 Pages

The large-scale issue of poverty is dated all the way back to the 18th Century and it continues today. To raise awareness about this issue, two very brilliant writers, Jonathan Swift and Fred Grimm used different forms of satire to get their points across. Jonathan Swift is an 18th Century writer, who used Juvenalian satire in his work “A Modest Proposal” to inform the English about the raising number of those in poverty in Ireland. Juvenalian satire is often a bitter, or angry form of satire that criticizes a corruption. Fred Grimm started writing for the Miami Herald in the 20th Century, he used Horatian satire in his column “State budget solution:

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623 Words | 3 Pages

What’s the difference between a baby and a peanut butter cup? The baby won’t stick to the roof of your mouth. Jonathon Swift was a satirist, essayist, pamphleteer, and cleric who became dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1729 Swift wrote A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay, suggesting that by selling Irish children it might ease their economic troubles. The pamphlet mocked the heartless attitudes towards the poor.

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483 Words | 2 Pages

"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a satire that proposes an ironic solution to Ireland 's suffering problem with poverty and overcrowding. Swift proposes the solution of selling children to wealthy families or taverns to be cooked and served. This unrealistic solution shows how absurd of an idea was needed to get the attention of the government. The main purpose of writing his satire was to bring attention to the horrendous conditions that poverty ridden families were suffering from in Ireland during the 1700s.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and/or using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal is not his true goal. Jonathon Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the Irish should sell their children to the rich to eat.

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1083 Words | 5 Pages

Critical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” In the work entitled “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the theme of social injustice is enhanced by the use of verbal irony to convey a charged message. The ambiguous title and introduction to Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece does little to prepare the reader for shocking content revealed later in the text. Swift’s work is powerful, poignant and persuasive because it strikes at the heart of the modern readers ethics, as it likely would have done for the author’s contemporary audiences. Jonathan Swift’s 1729 masterpiece is a satirical metaphor centered around the pervasive assertion, “the English are devouring the Irish.” Jonathan Swift gives a more comprehensive exordium concerning his work stating that is it “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public (Swift 1199).

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