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A Modest Proposal and Other Writings Free FREE A MODEST PROPOSAL AND OTHER WRITINGS PDF Jonathan Swift,Carole Fabricant | 464 pages | 29 Dec 2009 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780140436426 | English | London, United Kingdom A Modest Proposal - Wikipedia In her introduction to this new edition, Carole Fabricant discusses Swift's life and turbulent times, his political views and his powers as a writer of complex irony and intricate word play. To ease poverty in Ireland by eating the children of the poor was the satirical 'solution' suggested by Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal and Other Writings his essay 'A Modest Proposal' Here Swift unleashes the full power of his ironic armoury and corrosive wit, finding his targets - the British ruling class and avaricious landlords, and the brutalized Irish, complicit in their own oppression - with deadly precision. His masterly essay is accompanied by a generous selection of prose works, among them pamphlets attacking British rule in his native Ireland, periodical essays critiquing the new capitalist and military classes, a journal detailing his political activities in London, a loving tribute to his beloved 'Stella' A Modest Proposal and Other Writings her death and pieces on such diverse subjects as the absurdities of astrology, the joys of punning A Modest Proposal and Other Writings comical rules for servants. Ingenious and unconventional, Swift is revealed here as one A Modest Proposal and Other Writings the greatest satirists in the English language. In her introduction to this new edition, Carol Fabricant discusses Swift's life and turbulent times, his political views and his powers as a writer of complex irony and intricate word play. This volume also includes a chronology, further reading, a glossary, notes and a biographical dictionary. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin. He is considered the foremost prose satirist in the English language, which stemmed from his criticism of Britain's repressive colonial policies in Ireland. Among Swift's best known works are his ironic masterpiece, 'A Modest Proposal'and his novel, Gulliver's Travels Jonathan A Modest Proposal and Other Writings. He was a cousin of John Dryden. Swift's father was a lawyer who had gone to Ireland after the Restoration, but he died before his son's birth. In he became dean of St Patrick's. Swift gave one third of his income to charities and used his own money to fund St Patrick's Hospital for Imbeciles. He was himself thought by many to be insane in his later years. Although nominally a Whig, Swift became editor of the Tory journal the Examiner His first major work, A Tale of a Tub, was published and through the development of his writing career he became close friends with the poet Alexander Pope. Together with other writers, they founded a literary group called the Martinus Scriblerus Club in His political satires form a large amount of his life's work and include the famous essay, A Modest Proposalwhere A Modest Proposal and Other Writings suggests that the solution to the starvation of the poor in Ireland is that they should eat their own children. It is unclear whether Swift ever formally married, but he was very close to Esther Johnson, known as Stella, whom he had met through Temple. He died in and was buried beside her in St Patrick's. Go, traveller, and imitate if you can a man who was an undaunted champion of liberty. Search books and authors. View all online retailers Find local retailers. Also by Jonathan Swift. Related titles. Vesper Flights. Solutions and Other Problems. The Republic. Plato PlatoPlato. Beyond Good And Evil. The Odyssey. The Doors of Perception. Committed Writings. Inner Worlds Outer Spaces. Think, Write, Speak. Karl Ove KnausgaardAnselm Kiefer. The Unnamable Present. There It Is Again. Animals Strike Curious Poses. Gray's Anatomy. Collected Nonfiction Volume 1. Our top books, exclusive content and competitions. Straight to your inbox. Sign up to our newsletter using your email. Enter your email to sign up. Thank you! Your subscription to Read More was successful. To help us recommend your next book, tell us what you enjoy reading. Add your interests. A Modest Proposal And Other Writings by Jonathan Swift - Penguin Books Australia Presented in the guise of an economic treatisethe essay proposes that the country ameliorate poverty in Ireland by butchering the children of the Irish poor and selling them as food to wealthy English landlords. The essay is a masterpiece of satirewith a blend of rational deliberation and unthinkable conclusion, and its title has A Modest Proposal and Other Writings to symbolize any proposition to solve a problem with an effective but outrageous cure. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Give Feedback. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article requires login. External Websites. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree See Article History. Britannica Quiz. Jonathan Swift Quiz. Learn More in these related Britannica articles:. Swift grouped himself with Pope and Gay in hostility to…. His Modest Proposal is a masterpiece of comic incongruity, with its suave blend of rational deliberation and savage conclusion. The comic artistry of Alexander Pope is equally impressive. Pope expressed his genius in the invective of his satiric portraits and A Modest Proposal and Other Writings the range of moral…. The first is a series of letters attacking the English government for its scheme to supply Ireland with copper halfpence and farthings. History at your fingertips. Sign up here to see what happened On This Dayevery day in your inbox! Email address. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy A Modest Proposal and Other Writings. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. A Modest Proposal | Summary, Author, Purpose, & Facts | Britannica The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards A Modest Proposal and Other Writings poor, as well as British policy toward the Irish in general. In English writing, the phrase "a modest proposal " is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire. Swift's essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language. 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 A Modest Proposal and Other Writings 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 fricasseeor a ragout. 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 methods of argument throughout his essay which lampoon A Modest Proposal and Other Writings then-influential William Petty and the social engineering popular among followers of Francis Bacon. These lampoons include appealing to the authority of "a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London" and "the famous Psalmanazara native of the island Formosa " who had already confessed to not being from Formosa in In the tradition of Roman satire, Swift introduces the A Modest Proposal and Other Writings he is actually suggesting by paralipsis :. Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting A Modest Proposal and Other Writings 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 Laplandersand 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 A Modest Proposal and Other Writings 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 A Modest Proposal and Other Writings just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it. Therefore I repeat, let no man talk A Modest Proposal and Other Writings 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. George Wittkowsky argued that Swift's main target in A Modest Proposal was not the conditions in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills. A Modest Proposal also targets the calculating way people perceived the poor in designing their projects. The pamphlet targets reformers who "regard people as commodities". Critics differ about Swift's intentions in using this faux-mathematical philosophy.
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