A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works

One of the earliest examples of straight-faced satire, A Modest Proposal is arguably the most celebrated instance of sustained irony in the history of the English language. Essentially a proposal to cure Ireland of its poverty and population-related ills by cannibalizing the youth, Swift’s call for infanticide was not immediately recognized as satire when first received by the public. Composed in the style of Juvenal, the classic Roman satirist, A Modest Proposal remains a work of extraordinary literary and historical significance.