“ … the nation’s stock will be thereby encreased fifty thousand pounds per annum, besides the profit of a new dish, introduced to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom, who have any refinement in taste.”

Where would we be without satire? We often need someone to draw us a picture of why a line of thinking is preposterous, and satire does the trick. Next time a politician skips quickly over a moral concern to emphasize their six-plus point proposal of why it is in the best interest of our country (and let’s face it, I won’t have to wait long for that), I will think of Swift and this modest proposal.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD WAS THIS? I am guessing this was satire in order to capture the attentions of politics at the time, but still, this was just too good of a satire. I mean, come on, preparing children as MEALS? I was both jaw dropped and laughing on the floor once again through the satirical and witty words of Jonathan Swift. This was ridiculous and I think that was the point of this brilliant essay. Just, take my four star, Swift. I know you already have five from me, but take four more.

I am giving this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to maintain their own children, (although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom) but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born. The question therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for? which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses, (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive at six years old; except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier; during which time they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers: As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.

Re-read: Better than the first read but still boring. Also Jonathan swift is a big fat liar… he really tried to convince us that he accidentally rode a dogs back for 200 yards and used it’s tail as a bridle… sure Jono
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this book is only 52 pages long but I wanted to DNF so bad. I reeeeally didn't like this

This is obviously an incredible satire, which hopes to give some satisfaction to the rich. I recently reread it after reading The Sorrows of Young Mike. In John Zelazny's parody, the main character parodies Jonathan Swift's modest proposal. It is a parody within a parody and the modern twist is displayed well.

I can't think why I've never read this before. Maybe I never did because I knew what it was and didn't feel that I had to. If one were teaching English, it would have to be the textbook on satire, wouldn't it? The thing that strikes me most, is how angry Swift must have been when he wrote it, watching his country die at the hands of the British. Or perhaps it's just anger remembered in a moment of calm.

Really makes me want to slap some modern writers upside the head (college essayists are particularly egregious) and show them what it is like to be truly edgy.

I own a copy.

Macabre but good example of how you can use standard arguments to convince people - no matter how appalling your opinion may be. Scary!

Yet another read for my Brit Lit class. Swift's satire at it's finest. This author is one of the reasons I took the class, I enjoy his work. That being said this one was a bit shocking to me. I have always known the basics behind this piece, and his resolution to dealing with all the poor children in Ireland. That being said I spent most of my time reading this being extremely happy it was pure satire. Selling your babies to the gentry as a meat product, very strange. Early version of Soylent Green anyone. I hope this did make some in power at least think about how to change the Poor Laws for the better. Great author, who definitely got his point across.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

No, I have never read anything by Jonathan Swift, but a very funny line in one of my favorite movies (The Birdcage with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams) mentioned Swift's proposal and now I can say I know what the character meant!

For those of us who not only like sarcasm, irony and any other form of deeply dark humour, this is pretty much holy scripture. It's oozing with the author's condemnation of the status quo in the world and plainly speaks to what he thinks of certain people and their view of the world.

The truly astonishing part? If Swift was alive today, he could have written and published this this year and for any nation on this planet! Now this is what makes a classic!

I've only been asked to read this in preparation of Gulliver's Travels which we're reading next. Like I said, I had never read anything by Swift before so this was a nice gateway showing me what to expect.

You can listen to the text for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm543...

Written in 1729, three years after the publication of Gulliver's Travels, at the time when Ireland was reeling from famine with an estimated 35,000 wandering beggars in the country.

Drought and failing crops had forced entire families to quit their farms and took the roads begging for food. Landowners, of English ancestry, ignored their sufferings and opted to live abroad to evade payment of taxes and duties. The sub-title of this story reads:


"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 Public"


Jonathan Swift proposed to eat Ireland's hungry children to lessen the number of these wandering, hungry, innocent souls. And he wouldn't hear of any alternative remedies:


"Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our absentees a five shillings a pound: of using neither clothes nor household 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, ...of quitting our animosities and factions, ...of being a little cautious not to sell our country and conscience for nothing: of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy toward their tenants: lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shopkeepers..."


A masterpiece of irony and satire. Naughty Mr. Swift. Now, we have corned beef and hot dogs bearing his name. I hope there's no human flesh in them.

I was familiar with Jonathan Swift's famous work of satire but had never actually read the whole thing. But it is on the Books 1001 list, so I decided to read it, since it's online everywhere and it's only five pages.

The first page of Swift's 1729 essay describes the problem: the ever-increasing number of destitute Irish, the economic hardships imposed on the nation, and the numerous inadequate and ineffective schemes that had been attempted to address it.

There is no alteration in Swift's very serious and thoughtful tone when he delivers his zinger:

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that 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 fricasie, or a ragoust.

The rest of the essay continues in an absolutely straight-faced manner, laying out economic and dietary calculations, never once hinting that a proposal to raise Irish children for their meat might be anything less than serious. It is the sober, analytical tone that makes this such a brilliant and famous work of satire. For the exceptionally dense and humor-impaired (of whom there were apparently quite a few people back when Swift published it), the only clue may be his bitterly ironic conclusion:

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.

It amused me to find essays posted even today by people who didn't seem to be quite sure whether Swift was seriously advocating cannibalism.

Reading a bit about the publication's social context does make A Modest Proposal more interesting — Swift wasn't just condemning the heartlessness of English landlords and expressing sympathy for the bitter plight of the poor, but mocking specific remedies and alternate proposals that were popular at the time. But just reading the essay all the way through is an educational experience, because the imitators and "modest proposals" that have been proposed ever since generally fail to be nearly as witty or intelligent. The whole point of Swift's satire was that he constructed a very careful argument that invites earnest debate if you just... consider it a serious proposal.

I highly encourage anyone who appreciates satire to read the essay that practically defines the modern form.

Some writers could kill two birds with one stone (or should I say, a 500 page book). Jonathan Swift, however, could kill a dozen with a 48 page satire.

I usually hate writing essays but writing a literary essay about A Modest Proposal was so much fun and interesting. I all the more got to explore the humour and wit behind Jonathan Swift's words. The style of writing is a tad bit tricky to read but if you get over that hurtle, you'd find yourself engulfed in every sentence. It covers so many topics and problems that were, and are still, alive and damaging our world.

I recommend everyone to read it! I personally read it free online through a website called NEWSELA (It's safe, don't worry ...I think). But just go and get it, I promise you, you won't regret it! And, dude, come one; its only FORTY EIGHT pages--it took me less than an hour to read through. And if you did "regret" it, you'd still learn so much. If you didn't learn at least one thing, then I'm sorry to break the news, your mind is as damaged as the world. Just kidding.