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A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a satirical pamphlet written and published by Jonathan Swift in 1729. Swift suggests in his essay that the Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling children born into poverty as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. The work has now become one of the epitomes of satire, and the modern phrase "a modest proposal" derives from the work. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...
1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ...
Polish soldiers reading a German leaflet during the Warsaw Uprising A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ...
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Irish cleric, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for Tories), and poet, famous for works like Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapiers Letters, The Battle of the Books, and...
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Written as an attack on the indifference of landlords to the state of their tenants and on the political economists with their calculations on the schemes to raise income, the essay contains scathing comments about the state of the poor and their landlords.
Swift goes to great lengths to support his argument, including a list of possible preparation styles for the children, and calculations showing the financial benefits of his suggestion. He uses common methods of argument throughout his essay, such as appealing to the authority of "a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London" and "the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa" (who had already confessed to not being from Formosa in 1706). Swift couches his arguments in then-current events, exploiting common prejudice against Papists and slyly pointing out their depredations of England. After enumerating the benefits of his proposal, Swift addresses possible objections including the depopulation of Ireland and a litany of other solutions which he dismisses as impractical. George Psalmanazar (1679-1763) George Psalmanazar (1679?-May 3, 1763) claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. ...
This article is about the history, geography, and people of the island known as Taiwan. ...
Papist is a term, usually disparaging, referring to a member of the Roman Catholic Church. ...
This essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language.[citation needed]. Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, so that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states, "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout." Ironic redirects here. ...
Beef Stew A stew is a common dish made of vegetables (particularly potatoes or beans), meat, poultry, or seafood cooked in some sort of broth or sauce. ...
“Roast†redirects here. ...
Wikibooks Cookbook has an article on Baking Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by conduction, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. ...
Boiling, a type of phase transition, is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmospheric pressure. ...
Fricassee is poultry or other white meat cut into pieces and stewed in a white gravy. ...
The term ragout (French ragoût) can refer to a main-dish stew or to a sauce for noodles or other starchy foods. ...
Even today, readers unacquainted with its reputation as a satirical work often do not immediately realize that Swift was not seriously proposing cannibalism (and of course, infanticide). It is no longer true, as it was in Swift's time, that any educated reader would be familiar with the satires of Horace and Juvenal, and so recognize that Swift's essay follows the rules and structure of Latin satires. Cannibal redirects here. ...
In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ...
Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ...
Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ...
The satirical element of the pamphlet is often only understood after the reader notes the allusions made by Swift to the attitudes of landlords, such as the following: "I grant this food may be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for Landlords, who as they have already devoured most of the Parents, seem to have the best Title to the Children." Swift extends the metaphor to get in a few jibes at his perception of England’s mistreatment of Ireland, noting that "For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, and flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it."
In the tradition of Roman satire, Swift introduces the reforms he is actually suggesting by deriding them:
Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither cloaths, nor houshold furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance: Of learning to love our country, wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants. Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shop-keepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure, and the goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it. Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, ’till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.
Modern usage A Modest Proposal is included in many literature programs as an example of early modern western satire. It also serves as an exceptional introduction to the concept and use of argumentative language, lending itself well to secondary and post-secondary essay courses. Outside of the realm of English studies, .. A Modest Proposal is a relevant piece included in many comparative and global literature and history courses, as well as those of numerous other disciplines in the arts, humanities, and even the social sciences. 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ...
It has been emulated many times as well. In his book A Modest Proposal (1984), evangelical author Frank Schaeffer emulated Swift's work in social conservative polemic against abortion and euthanasia in a future dystopia that advocated recycling of aborted embryos and fetuses, as well as some disabled infants with compound intellectual, physical and physiological difficulties. (Such Baby Doe Rules cases were then a major concern of the pro-life movement of the early 1980s, which viewed selective treatment of those infants as disability discrimination.) Frank Schaeffer (born August 3, 1952) is a successful American author, film director, screenwriter and much sought after public speaker. ...
Conservative may refer to: Conservatism, political philosophy A member of a Conservative Party Conservative extension, premise of deductive logic Conservativity theorem, mathematical proof of conservative extension Conservative Judaism britney spears Category: ...
For mercy killings not performed on humans, see animal euthanasia. ...
This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ...
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Fetus at eight weeks A fetus (alternatively foetus or fœtus) is an embryo in later stages of development, from the third month of pregnancy until birth in humans. ...
The term disability, as it is applied to humans, refers to any condition that impedes the completion of daily tasks using traditional methods. ...
The Baby Doe Law or Baby Doe Amendment is the name of an amendment to the Child Abuse Law passed in 1984 that sets forth specific criteria and guidelines for the treatment of seriously ill and/or disabled newborns. ...
This article is about the social movement. ...
The game Orphan Feast on Cartoon Network's AdultSwim website is loosely based on A Modest Proposal.
The show "Sealab 2021" also references "A Modest Proposal"
A Modest Proposal is also the name of The University of Texas at Dallas' Alternative Student Newspaper, the monthly opinion paper of the University. The University of Texas at Dallas is a branch of the UT system (which, despite its name, is located in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas). ...
Disbarred attorney Jack Thompson wrote A Modest Video Game Proposal and sent it to many video game news sites. In it, he explained that if a game were developed, produced, and released in 2006 involving the father of a boy killed by a "gamer brainwashed by his own murder simulations" going on a rampage across America, killing game developers, lawyers, and setting fire to arcades, he would donate $10,000 to an unnamed charity. Several games were released fitting his criteria, upon which he revealed his offer to be satire. An attorney is someone who represents someone else in the transaction of business: For attorney-at-law, see lawyer, solicitor, barrister or civil law notary. ...
John Bruce “Jack†Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American attorney and activist, based in Coral Gables, Florida. ...
A Modest Video Game Proposal is the title of an open letter sent by attorney/activist Jack Thompson to members of the press and to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein on October 10, 2005. ...
“Computer and video games†redirects here. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
See also Cannibal redirects here. ...
1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ...
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