Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal and Wilfred Owen's Dulce tt Decorum Est

1638 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary devices used in a modest proposal

Literature can have many purposes including entertainment, education, or persuasion. Literature can also be written to challenge common beliefs. This idea is seen by studying “A Modest Proposal,” written by Jonathan Swift and “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen. While reading through the poems, it would be difficult to see any similarities due to the fact that one is a poem about war and the other is an economic proposal. While "A Modest Proposal" and “Dulce et Decorum Est" are two pieces of literature from two different time periods, they show a certain similarity in the way they relate to and question the views of their respective periods.
“A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick,” commonly referred to as “A Modest Proposal,” is an essay written by Jonathan Swift that was published in 1729 (Manlove). Swift wrote this proposal in response to Ireland’s population and economic trials during the time of its writing. The answer to the nation’s problems that is presented by the essay is for Ireland to turn to cannibalization; particularly, the sale and use of poor children as a food source. This idea is first obvious as Swift writes, “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy 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 fricassee, or a ragout” (40). Upon first read, it can almost seem as though this proposal is a serious one because of the intricate thought that has been put into it. Peter Schakel notes Swift’s attention to the prepara...

... middle of paper ...

...ter. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Seager, Nicholas. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics: epistemology and fiction in Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year." The Modern Language Review 103.3 (2008): 639+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal.” Literature in Context. Revised Ed. Vol. II. Gerald C. Wood et al. Boston: Pearson, 2008. 39-43. Print.
"total, adj. and n.". OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. 19 Nov. 2013.
Wittkowsky, George. "Swift's Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early Georgian Pamphlet." Journal of the History of Ideas 4 (Jan.-Oct. 1943): 75-104. Rpt. in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 101. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Wood, Gerald C. et al., Eds. Literature in Context. Boston: Pearson, 2008. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    The work is a great example of how a text can have more than one thesis, depending on how it is read, or who reads it. In it’s time, A Modest Proposal was taken as serious by the audience of rich men. It caused some hysteria and confusion in upper class communities. Imagine reading an anonymous work which promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and his purpose of his pamphlet, which was to exaggerate the steps necessary to stop the Irish famine and poverty epidemic. A Modest Proposal is almost a scare tactic. It brings attention to the distances people will go to stop hunger and homelessness. The audience of rich, land-owning men were planned to take the text to heart. It should shock them into lowering taxes and decreasing the cost of shelter. Jonathan Swift uses irony and sarcasm to hint at his essay not being serious, and uses his writing skill to try and solve a serious problem. And of course, the solution Swift is actually looking for, is not about eating

    Read More

  • A Modest Proposal And Let Them Eat Dog Rhetorical Analysis

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the time frame that Swifts’ A Modest Proposal was written Ireland was going through political, economic, and religious struggles. In 1729 England had contrived, with the help of Irish venality, to wreck Ireland’s merchant marine, agriculture, and wool industry. Prostitutes in Swift’s paper are having kids like senseless people, but yet they can’t afford to feed them. Jonathan Swift proposes that his people should sell the babies and eat them. He thinks this would help solve the problem of over population. Swift tried to give his people pamphlets on how to fix the problem that was plaguing their country, but they ignored them. Swift says “These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.”(1) Swift proposes that the mothers sell the babies for 8 shillings; the rich would find the child to be a delicacy and the extra money would go to the landlord. So everyone would benefit from this proposal. He does this as a way of making his people aware of what is going on in their

    Read More

  • A Modest Proposal a Rhetorical Analysis

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    “A Modest Proposal” was written in 1729 by a satirical author by the name of Jonathan Swift. Swift studied at the University of Oxford and was also know for his popular writing in Gulliver’s Travel. The purpose for his satire “A Modest Proposal” was to enlighten the citizens of Ireland about their hardship and suffering. He informed them about their scares of food, money, and property, but provided a possible solution to their problem. To persuade the people Swift adopts a comforting and friendly tone to his audience for the people to react to his solution.

    Read More

  • Humanity versus Inhumanity: An Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Jonathan Swift And Poverty Prevention

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1729, after seeing that many children aren’t getting the correct needs because their families are too poor, Jonathan Swift came up with the idea that Ireland could limit poverty with children. He proposed that families could fatten up their children and sell them to later be dinner on the tables of a rich land owner in Ireland. While Swift’s idea sounds completely inhumane, it would fix many other problems other than poverty. Swift comes to the conclusion that selling and eating children will have many positive effects of Irish families. I agree with Jonathan Swift’s proposal because it would limit poverty, fix overpopulation, and unemployment issues in Ireland.

    Read More

  • William Bradford and Thomas Morton

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Morton, Thomas - Introduction." Literary Criticism (1400-1800). Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg. Vol. 72. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 21 Feb, 2011

    Read More

  • Pathos In A Modest Proposal

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an attempt to bring attention to horrible the condition in which the poor or destitute people in Ireland are living in. His argument that children of these improvised people should be sold to “the persons of quality and fortune” (A Modest Proposal) for consumption, is Swift’s gruesome way of saying you might as well eat the babies, if no one is going to actually try to fix the problems of the poor in Ireland.

    Read More

  • Humor as an Argument: A Modest Proposal

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essay, A Modest Proposal, is a proposal to end the economic dilemma in Ireland by selling the poor’s children, at the age of one, for food. The narrator states, “I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their father, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance” (Swift). According to this proposal, by selling the children for food to the wealthy in Ireland many problems will be resolved. The poor mothers will earn money to live on and will not have to raise children, the wealthy will have a new meat source and “an increase in his own popularity among his tenants” (Sparknotes), and the economy will improve because of all of the market action. In the narrator’s eyes, this proposal equals an all around win for the people of Ireland and he cannot see any objection to his plan.

    Read More

  • A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Irishmen, educated, father and husband. All these titles make Jonathan Swift more than qualified to be the author of “A Modest Proposal,” published in the 1729. It discussed the astonishing poverty that was sweeping the Irish nation, his home country, during the early 18th century, which in his opinion was not the nations own doing. He adopts a sarcastic tone in order to display to the Irish people the injustices cast upon them, and to inspire his countrymen to rise up from poverty and stand up to those who held them down.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of On Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner

    1718 Words  | 4 Pages

    If Jonathan Swift had written a serious piece simply espousing his true beliefs he would not have received as much feedback, due to the fact that there were already informational advertisements at the time and nobody was interested in reading them. The only thing that would get the people 's attention was something that would create a lasting impression, so he wrote a satirical piece with trenchant humor and mochary. “A Modest Proposal” surprised people and got them thinking about the condition of the poor in Ireland and what should be done to solve it. For example Swift states that “those who are thrifty” can use the carcass of the infant for ladies’ gloves or gentlemen’s boots. This itself can help those reading the piece to begin to think about possible solutions to the substantial issues involving the poor in Ireland. He also proposes that children that are fourteen should be consumed as well so the poor don’t have to go hungry and that it would limit the number of breeders, in an attempt to illustrate the extremity of the circumstances. His sarcastic way of joking enlisted fear in the poor and concern in the rich, helping them realise the drastic issue present in the

    Read More

  • What Is A Counter Argument In A Modest Proposal

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift writes of the poor men, women, and children of Dublin, Ireland crowding the streets due to the years of drought and crop failure. He estimates that 120,000 children are born each year and asks the question of how these people are to be provided for. Then he tells of his proposal. He states that 20,000 of the 120,000 may be reserved for breeding purposes, while the other 100,000 be sold to dine on. Swift offers several advantages to his proposal some being: the poor tenants will have something of value in their home, the wealth of the nation will greatly increase as well as the cost of caring for the child will be eliminated after a year, and eliminating the food shortages the nation is undergoing. The only counter argument he offers is that killing and eating those infants will decrease the population so much that it will make it easier for England to concur them. He finishes his proposal with a statement that he himself is not interested in making a profit since his own children are past the right age and his wife not being able to have any more children.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    A “Modest Proposal” is written by a man who had been exiled from England and forced to live among Irish citizens for many years during which he observed major problems in Ireland that needed a solution. The writer of this piece is Jonathan Swift, and in his proposal, “The Modest Proposal,” Swift purpose is to offer a possible solution to the growing problem of the homeless and poverty stricken women and children on the streets of Ireland. Swift adopts a caring tone in order to make his proposal sound reasonable to his audience, trying to convince them that he truly cares about the problems facing Ireland’s poor and that making the children of the poor readily available to the rich for entertainment and as a source of food would solve both the economic and social problems facing Ireland.

    Read More

  • Gulliver's Travels and Jonathan Swift

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Swift was ambitious and wanted to start a career working at the church however, his satirical works Tale of a Tub and Battle of the Books prevented Swift from getting a position in the church because they insulted Queen Anne. Although, these works insulted the Queen, they appealed to the public, when they were published in 1704, and established Swift as a prominent literary figure of the time. How...

    Read More

  • Critical Approval of Samuel Jonson's Works

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    The library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors, Volume III, 1730-1784, edited by Charles Well s Moulton Gloucester, Mass !959. 720 7. Ibid., 763 8. Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 , James P. Draper, James E. Person, Gale Research, Inc.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli: The Father of Modern Political Science

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Web. The Web. 7 Dec. 2010. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420077991&v=2.1&u=west89013tgps&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w>. Person,

    Read More

More about Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal and Wilfred Owen's Dulce tt Decorum Est

Open Document