The 18th century was filled with great authors who brought forth great poetry and stories that would last for an eternity. Alexander Pope and Johnathan Swift were legendary authors who changed and yet still influence young authors of this century. Pope and Swift were great satirist of their time and enlightened us on their humor. The primary focus of this paper is to depict between “The Rape of the Lock” and “The Modest Proposal” and how their writing styles differ. The 18th century was one in which they praised humor and motive which came to the forefront of poetry in the method of both Horatian and Juvenalian mockeries, which, through strong opinion and harsh nimbleness of thought, open to the shallow idiocies and ethical exploitation …show more content…
Pope, in his The Rape of the Lock, is Horatian in tone, carefully reproaching society in a crafty but superior voice by holding up a reflection to the idiocies and vanities of the upper class. Pope does not vigorously attack the self-important display of the British aristocracy, but rather grants it in such a way that gives the reader a new standpoint from which to simply view the actions in the story as silly and absurd. A moderate mockery of the upper class, more elusive and poetic than his vicious counterpart, Pope nonetheless is able to successfully brighten the moral filth of society to the public. Swift’s A Modest Proposal, however, is a typical Juvenalian mockery, astonishingly revealing an often-overlooked aspect of British colonization with respects to the Irish through savage derision and derisive disrespect. A bitter attack, Swift’s moody tale outlines an immoral and stubborn solution to Ireland’s economical woes using odd yet brilliantly clear reason and a separated tone in order to attack the irrelevance to the poor. Swift’s sarcastic tone, relying on sanity and severity to carry its message, is much more sharp than his counterpart, perfectly demonstrating Juvenalian satire’s ability to shock and
Swift's opposition is. indirectly presented in the report. The author uses satire to accomplish his objective not only because he is able to conceal his true identity but also because it is the most effective way to awake the people of Ireland into seeing their own deprivation. Firstly, the narrative voice begins the essay by describing the horrible conditions in which the Irish peasants live. He demonstrates there is a serious problem with a great need for a solution.
“A Modest Proposal” written by Jonathan Swift is without a doubt superior to the satire “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson. In order to master the intense task of writing a satire the author must put the reader in admiration, and that is exactly what Swift does. “A Modest Proposal” is an excellent piece, and shows Swift’s piercing wit and biting sarcasm. Although this satire was composed within 1729 it still holds the bite and shocking analogies in which we still are in awe upon. “A Modest Proposal” is without a doubt one of the world’s foremost examples of genius, because of the fact that Swift couriers his mastery of his wittiness and how Swift executed expressing the satire was immense.
Swift defined satire as; 'A sort of glass wherein the holders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. " Swift presents his "Proposal" as an entirely reasonable suggestion to aid the Irish, he enumerates the many benefits, counters the objections many may have, uses rhetoric reasoning and proves his humanitarianism views. Swift has written in considerable detail over the degree of poverty in Ireland, he draws attention to the causes of it obliquely and proves in great detail that his "Proposal" will work and in which ways it does work. Ireland was a colony of England; it was economically, politically and militarily dependent on ... ... middle of paper ... ...
In eighteenth century Ireland, the nation was in a famine and an epidemic of poverty due to the high prices of land and food. Jonathan Swift saw a problem, so he wrote and spread what we call today, A Modest Proposal. Swift’s essay is satirical. He exaggerates and gives inaccurate statistics to deliver a thesis that runs deeper than the explicit one about eating babies. While much of the essay seems to imply that Swift’s persona eats babies, there are some instances where Jonathan hints at the ironic themes of the writing.
Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Gen. ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 2633-39. Print.
Satire is a great tool used by many writers and actors since ancient times. The earliest example that we know about is a script from 2nd millennium BC in Ancient Egypt (Definition: Satire) and since then has evolved into a great part of our society. Satire is used to point out the faults of human vice in order for change and reform in either of two ways. There is a very bitter Juvenalian or a mild and light Horatian. In order to fully understand these forms of satire, method, purpose, and applications will be addressed.
Although Alexander Pope's, The Rape of the Lock, and Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal are both witty satires, they differ on their style, intention, and mood.
Effectively ushering change in society or pointing out faults that have existed and gone unnoticed can be a daunting task for any social commentator. Often, blandly protesting grievances or concerns can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However, Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, uses clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenalian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as an example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He complements such criticism with sophisticated, clever language which may be mistaken for the more docile Horatian satire. Yet, this urbane voice, coupled with irony and the substance of the proposals accentuates Swift’s motive to use anger as a force for action. Through his absurd/humorous proposals, stinging irony, and use of voice, Swift effectively portrays A Modest Proposal as a Juvenalian satire designed to stir emotions concerning the social state of Ireland.
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
This essay by Jonathan Swift is a brutal satire in which he suggests that the poor Irish families should kill their young children and eat them in order to eliminate the growing number of starving citizens. At this time is Ireland, there was extreme poverty and wide gap between the poor and the rich, the tenements and the landlords, respectively. Throughout the essay Swift uses satire and irony as a way to attack the indifference between classes. Swift is not seriously suggesting cannibalism, he is trying to make known the desperate state of the lower class and the need for a social and moral reform in Ireland.
Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.
Coming into English 366, I honestly never knew very much about the oppression of Ireland from England. I knew that there had always been trouble between the two countries, but I never knew of the strong feelings that have been expressed about England in many Irish works of literature. After reading works from this course I began to see Swift’s emphasis on politics, his use of gross humor and his ideas of fitting into society in both the excerpt found ...
In 'The Rape of the Lock' Alexander Pope (1688-1744) employs a mock-epic style to satirise the 'beau-monde' (fashionable world, society of the elite) of eighteenth century England. The richness of the poem, however, reveals more than a straightforward satirical attack. Alongside the criticism we can detect Pope's fascination with, and perhaps admiration for, Belinda and the society in which she moves. Pope himself was not part of the 'beau-monde'. He knew the families on which the poem is based but his own parents, though probably comfortably off, were not so rich or of the class one would have to be in to move in Belinda's circle. He associated with learned men and poets, and there can have been little common ground between the company he kept at Will's Coffee House and those who frequented Hampton Court.
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own” (Swift). Such beholders, as Jonathan Swift astutely emphasizes, are intended, through guidance of satiric narrative, to recognize social or political plights. In some satires, as in Swift’s own A Modest Proposal, the use of absurd, blatant exaggeration is intended to capture an indolent audience’s attention regarding the social state of the poor. Yet even in such a direct satire, there exists another layer of meaning. In regards to A Modest Proposal, the interchange between the voice of the proposer and Swift’s voice introduces another medium of criticism, as well as the opportunity for readers to reflect on how well they may fit the proposer’s persona. In such as case, the satire exists on multiple levels of meaning—not only offering conclusions about moral problems, but also allowing the audience to an interpretation of their place among the criticism.
"The triumph of the Baron's rape is in exactly the same high language as it would be if he were Hector." In The Rape of the Lock, Pope uses the mock-epic style to satirise the seriousness with which a trivial misdemeanour (the theft of a few strands of hair) and the ways of gender polarised society can be blown beyond all sense of proportion.