Jonathan Swift's 1729 satirical essay presents a shocking "solution" to Ireland's poverty and overpopulation through darkly ironic economic reasoning. This masterpiece of English philosophical satire uses extreme proposals to expose the callous attitudes of the wealthy toward the poor.
For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes. I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heel…Continue reading →
An Irish satirist and clergyman (1667-1745) who wielded his razor-sharp wit to expose human folly and political corruption. His masterpiece Gulliver's Travels revolutionized literature by disguising biting social commentary as fantastical adventure, while works like "A Modest Proposal" perfected the art of satirical irony that influences writers today. All works by Jonathan Swift →
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