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Jonathan Swift

A Modest Proposal

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1729

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Introduction

“A Modest Proposal”

  • Genre: Satirical prose
  • Originally Published: 1729
  • Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1520L; grades 10-12; college/adult
  • Central Concern: An unnamed narrator establishes the argument that something must be done about the number of destitute infants in 18th-century Ireland, then advocates satirically for those infants to be used as a food source for the wealthy.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: Economic disparity; disturbing imagery

Jonathan Swift, Author

  • Bio: 1667-1745; born in Dublin, lived in England as an adult, then returned to Ireland permanently in 1714; Anglo-Irish essayist, poet, and satirist; political journalist; wrote several great works later in life while serving as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin; well-known for his satirical prose
  • Other Works: A Tale of a Tub (1704); “An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity” (1712); Gulliver’s Travels (1726)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

  • Reform Efforts’ Failure to Address Income Inequality
  • The Dehumanizing Attitudes Held by the Rich Toward the Poor
  • Political and Religious Tensions in Early 18th-Century Ireland

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

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