A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift published anonymously in Dublin in 1729. In the calm voice of a reasonable economist, the narrator suggests that poor Irish families could solve their poverty by selling their babies as food to the rich. The shocking idea exposes the cruelty of English policy and of the landlords towards Ireland.
A monstrous proposal
The narrator presents his plan with statistics, cost calculations and practical recipes, as if it were a sensible reform.
The horror of the suggestion makes the reader see that the real conditions of the Irish poor were already treated with similar indifference.
The target
Swift attacks the absentee landlords, the economic exploitation of Ireland by England and the heartless reasoning of some political writers.
Near the end, the narrator dismisses real solutions, such as taxing absentees or buying Irish goods, which Swift had himself proposed in earlier pamphlets.
A model of satire
The essay is often used as the perfect example of irony: saying the opposite of what one means to make a point more strongly.
Its full title is A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country.
Anecdotes
Dean of St Patrick's
Swift was Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin from 1713 until his death, and became a hero of Irish patriots for his writings.
Gulliver
Three years earlier, in 1726, Swift had published Gulliver's Travels, another satire that mocks politics and human pride.
Frequently asked questions
When was A Modest Proposal published?
In 1729.
What does the narrator propose?
That the children of the poor be sold as food to the rich, a satirical idea.
What is Swift really criticizing?
The exploitation of Ireland and the indifference to the poor.