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    A Modest Proposal
    A Modest Proposal
    A Modest Proposal
    Ebook36 pages22 minutes

    A Modest Proposal

    By Jonathan Swift

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1969
    Author

    Jonathan Swift

    Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an Irish poet and satirical writer. When the spread of Catholicism in Ireland became prevalent, Swift moved to England, where he lived and worked as a writer. Due to the controversial nature of his work, Swift often wrote under pseudonyms. In addition to his poetry and satirical prose, Swift also wrote for political pamphlets and since many of his works provided political commentary this was a fitting career stop for Swift. When he returned to Ireland, he was ordained as a priest in the Anglican church. Despite this, his writings stirred controversy about religion and prevented him from advancing in the clergy.

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    Reviews for A Modest Proposal

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      "A Modest Proposal" is definitely the strongest work here. And given how it is written, I can believe that people reading it today might not understand that it is satire--though how they can miss it being announced as satire on the cover of every volume it is in, in the intro, in every short summary, etc etc, is beyond me.

      "An Argument..." and "A Discourse..." both have some good bits. "A Meditation" is clever and very short. "The Battle" requires a background in Swift's contemporaries that I simply do not have (even with the brief notes saying who they were). Also, there are parts of it missing, and there is no way to know how long or important those parts might have been to the story itself. I can see this piece being funny to those who know the many authors mentioned.
    • 4/5
      Humorous - great satire! Although I admit that I read this one to increase my % to goal on 1001 books to read before you die...
    • 4/5
      This 59-page volume includes five of Swift's satirical writings. The well-known "A Modest Proposal" presents a clever plan to cure both poverty and overpopulation in Ireland and supply the rich with some tasty new treats in the process. "A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit" and "An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in England" deal with various religious topics. "The Battle of the Books" takes aim at the writers and thinkers of Swift's time who would disparage the ancient, classic authors, claiming to have done so much better themselves. There's also the tiny "A Meditation Upon a Broomstick," a deadpan parody that he inserted into a book containing a collection of mini-sermons as a practical joke. (The person he played the prank on, we're told, could not actually tell the difference.)The continued fame of "A Modest Proposal" is unquestionably well-deserved. It's extremely readable, darkly funny, sharply incisive, and still sadly relevant. The other pieces in this collection were somewhat more difficult going, though, partly because Swift's old-fashioned writing style is rather wordy and convoluted, but mostly because the modern reader (or at least this modern reader) lacks a lot of the cultural context with which to properly appreciate them. This edition did include a number of helpful footnotes, but that's not nearly the same thing as watching a contemporary writer jumping into a debate you're familiar with and skewering people you know. Still, despite all that, Swift's famous scathing wit does shine through. That's particularly true of "The Battle of the Books" in which he pulls no punches, utterly lambasting his targets with a jaw-droppingly impressive combination of highbrow erudition and low-down trash talk. There's no doubt about it: when Jonathan Swift disses you, you are dissed for the ages.Rating: This one's hard to rate. It's abundantly clear that Swift was a five-star satirist in his time, but most of these pieces haven't aged all that well, and some of the points he's making honestly seem rather wrong-headed and quaint to me at this late date. Let's call it 4/5.
    • 4/5
      So..I didn't read the WHOLE book. Only the essay, but I couldn't find just the essay (couldn't find it on the goodreads...)

      From reading just that essay, I would like to read the rest though, he's hilarious.
    • 4/5
      I love reading about eating children in the morning. This is probably the third time I've read that essay. Still good. There are some other gems in this too like his trolling of astrology and there are some stuff that are okay. I needed some humor, so figured this would be a good choice.
    • 5/5
      I knew what this was about, but I didn't realize how savage it would be. Incredible stuff.
    • 4/5
      I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child 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.With this paragraph, around a quarter of the way through a 1729 text, Swift (originally writing anonymously) detonates the bomb that is at the core of 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.But this, of course, is Swift, and we must never take his writings at their word. When he discusses the main advantages of such a policy for Ireland (such as fewer Catholics, the introduction of a new dish for gentlemen with refined tastes, an added draw for taverns, an income for the 'breeders' and an economic policy to encourage marriage) his purpose is to criticise social attitudes, but as with all satire, outward appearances are outrageous--but also deceptive.Swift was Anglo-Irish Anglican clergyman, and his position was to be a signpost always to a via media (as characterises the Church of England itself, being somewhere in the middle of a Christian continuum stretching from Dissenter to Roman Catholic). By taking arguments to extremes, as with A Modest Proposal, he exposed what he saw as inherent ridiculousness, but with such po-faced earnestness that it was sometimes hard to know when he was being serious without close reading of the text.In this slim volume are also included four other works. The Battle of the Books is the longest, and was essentially a discourse on the three strands of Christianity in the west, with the individuals Peter, Martin and Jack standing for Catholicism, Anglicanism and Nonconformism. (As a digression, I wonder if this piece indirectly influenced R M Ballantyne's famous novel The Coral Island, the leads of which were Peterkin, Jack Martin and Ralph, and which itself directly inspired William Golding's characters Piggy, Jack and Ralph in The Lord of the Flies.)Also here is the very short A Meditation upon a Broomstick, a mock allegory of the human condition perpetrated as a joke upon a Lady Berkeley. This is followed by A Discourse concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit: in this Swift equates spirit with 'enthusiasm', literally the state of being possessed by a god. The manifestation of enthusiasm Swift calls 'ejaculating the spirit, or transporting it beyond the sphere of matter'; to the three expressions of this manifestation--divine prophecy or inspiration, devilish possession, and the product of the imagination or strong emotions--Swift adds 'the mechanical operation of the spirit', which he at first compares to the ass on which Mohammed is said to have travelled to Paradise. (He also has witty words to say about epistolatory conventions, but there is no space, dear reader, to expand on this.)That only leaves the last of these papers published before 1729, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in England, which, however dry the subject appears to be from the title, is as knockabout a farce attacking all and sundry as any in this collection. Swift's own footnotes, along with the editor's, are included here, as well as a brief biography by way of introduction.Even allowing for a three-century gap these pieces have a surprisingly relevant contemporary bite, especially in view of recent political events: the shocking satire of A Modest Proposal throws a light on the downsides of utilitarianism, the dangers of cynical commercialism and the human capacity for self-delusion.
    • 3/5
      That was weird... I really had no expectations about this book and had sort of expected it to be a novel, but it was more like a pamphlet, an argumentative essay. And at first I thought it was serious and was quite appaled, until I came to the idea of eating babies and realised it had to be satirical. Not surprising I guess, given the fact that it was written by Swift. I think I should probably re-read it sometime now that I do have an idea what it is about; I didn't like it much, but part of that is because it was so different from what I expected, and that I really thought it was terrible at first, before realising it wasn't serious.Then again, it is really well done, seeing as it did fool me at first...
    • 4/5
      Ah yes. Jonathan Swift, best known for Gulliver’s Travels (a story based on the corruption he saw around him, in modern times turned into a children's story). And Possibly A Modest Proposal (which I assume is assigned to students as an example of satire). I picked this book up for "A Modest Proposal", which I haven't read since high-school. This Dover Thrift Edition contains a number of other satirical stories - some more known than others. Unfortunately, satire works best when the reader understand the history and politics behind the story - and for me, the stories made logical sense, but I really didn't understand them.A Modest Proposal, on the other hand - is still a masterpiece in satire. It is worth reading - Jonathan Swift is clearly a talented author - he can make Eating Babies sound both reasonable, and terrifying, at the same time. Basically, if you aren't going to help the poor in any meaningful manner, lets think out of the box to solve this problem...
    • 4/5
      This was a short, satirical, dark, humorous, bitter proposal on how to deal with the Irish poor. It leads you slowly in by discussing how concerned they are with the poor and their suffering, and how they need a way to have honest work to support themselves, and how the suffering of children is especially problematic. Then it offers a solution to the problem: If people are largely property of their landlords, and if they are going to be allowed to do nothing but suffer anyway, why not sell the babies as foodstuffs? The first allusion to 'renewable resources' I have come across. Funny, but at the same time sad and occasionally hard to read, at least for me.
    • 4/5
      I don't get it. What's so funny? I think this us a fine proposal, and easily instituted here in the USA. Eat 'em up, yum.
    • 5/5
      A satirical essay examining what could be done about the population to available food ratio in Ireland at the time. If you believed it was a serious essay you might have found yourself a little shocked.Doctor Swift explains the advantages to his proposal as far as to claim that it would be an advantage to have a new dish on the table.Shocking, short and entertaining.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant.An exercise in extended irony, aimed at the English politicians who were willfully ignoring the Irish people devastated by the potato famine.

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    A Modest Proposal - Jonathan Swift

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift

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    Title: A Modest Proposal

           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 - 1729

    Author: Jonathan Swift

    Release Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #1080]

    Last Updated: February 6, 2013

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MODEST PROPOSAL ***

    Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger

    A MODEST PROPOSAL

    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.

    by Dr. Jonathan Swift

    1729

    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 heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a

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