A Modest Proposal Figurative Language Analysis

Jonathan Swift uses satire and irony to convey his attitude about the situation. In the book, Satire: A Critical Reintroduction, Griffin how “A Modest Proposal is full of satire by saying, “A more famous satire whose structure from beginning to end is based on carefully reasoned consecutive argument is Swift’s “Modest Proposal” (104). In the book, On the Discourse of Satire, Simpson writes, “In fact, the first seven paragraphs of the Proposal review various schemes and recommendations, including some championed by Swift himself in the years before, to alleviate poverty and starvation and generally to improve ‘the present deplorable state of the kingdom” (143). Dr. Swift also uses an ironic tone while writing “A Modest Proposal.” One piece of evidence that proves that this is an ironic piece of writing is that Swift compares the children to animals. He says, “although I rather recommended buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” (97-100). Another example of having an ironic attitude is the title itself. It is called “A Modest Proposal,” but his proposal is not modest at all because it is morally incorrect to sell and devour children. Overall, Dr. Jonathan Swift has an ironic and satiric attitude while writing “A Modest

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.

When we are still children, running around the playground with our friends, our goals in life and what we want to be when we grow up are much different than later in life. We want to me mermaids, princesses, astronauts. When we get older though our values change. Instead of going after what our heart really wants to do, we go after the jobs that offer the biggest paycheck. Our culture’s minds have been warped and bent towards the desire to have a bigger house, a cooler car, and fancier clothes. We put what we think is right in our minds over what we truly love to do deep down in our hearts. The novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, is about a sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, who has been given his death sentence. He reconnects with his former student and current sports journalist, Mitch Albom, to try to remold his mind like soft clay to resist the pull of money and fame that today’s society provides. In this story, the author uses descriptive language, figurative language, and repetition for effect, to capture the theme that money will never

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,

The way and words used to tell a story determine how the story will be perceived. If the story uses lots of details, diction, and figurative language then it will be most likely a well told story. Although if a story is not told with these things it can be hard to interpret what is trying to be said. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”,uses all these things to tell an amazing story with a plot that could go anywhere. The author, James Hurst, of “The Scarlet Ibis” illustrates diction and figurative language to prove that the tone is hope, discouragement, and pride.

A Modest Proposal was written in 1729 by a man named Jonathan Swift. Swift used satire as his method of writing. He also used irony as a means to get people’s attention. Throughout the essay, Swift gives absurd proposals to his audience to try and

Every morning, a 71 year-old male stranger accompanies me on my way to school. I only know of his name, but I enjoy his company and chuckle as he comments on my generation’s use of language. Yet once NPR’s linguistic segment of Fresh Air ends, Geoff Nunberg’s witty remarks fade into the abyss. In the quietness of the car, I am left to revel in my own passion for languages: a transformative journey through Spanish and Chinese.

Satire is a form of literature in which an author tries to demonstrate his or her point of view by ridiculing. The author uses heavy irony and sarcasm in order to criticize a social issue. A perfect example of a work of satire is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. In this satirical essay, Jonathan Swift attacks on the issue of the Irish poverty in the 1700s. The essay sarcastically suggests that Ireland’s social and economic problems would be quickly solved by putting the children of impoverished Irish families on the food market. Through heavy exaggeration, Jonathan

The speaker did a very good job with his speech. His speech I believe is more informative, because he is describing his recent experience with appendicitis. The area that I liked most about his speech was his introduction. He had a very good hooked that got a lot of people’s attention including my own. He scared me for a moment, because he made everybody believe that he was going to show everybody his appendix that he just had removed from his body. Instead he showed the appendix of a book. Also, as he presented his speech he expressed what happened to him with very personal information. This information helped him establish his credibility. He presented his speech very well and sounded very confident. However, there were a few brief pauses

Authors tend to use a variation of rhetorical strategies to effectively convey their central idea. In Modest Proposal, Dr. Jonathan Swift professionally presents the overwhelming conflict occurring in Ireland during the early seventeenth century. By including his trenchant use of satire, Swift can effectively call attention to the unjust conditions of Ireland to the English people. In the proposal, Swift presents a very persuasive rhetorical strategy through his use of a formal diction, a grotesque imagery, and a satirical irony, that all transition to his use of appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, to generate the purpose of his central idea. To effectively focus the reader’s attention on the tragedy taking place in Ireland, Swift includes

“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, and “Top of the Food Chain” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, both are short stories that explore the concept of satire. Satire can be defined as a kind of writing that ridicules human weakness, vice, of folly in order to bring about social reform. It is a kind of writing to bring about change to society. Even though both are short stories, they easily get the faults of society across to its readers.

Jonathan Swift wrote a modest proposal to parliament. He addressed the problem of over population and famine in Ireland. The solution was presented in a satire manner and rightfully so. He proposed to eat babies to make them beneficial to the public. Swift used hyperbole and sarcasm to justify his argument.

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 some social commentators, such as Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, use 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 Juvenanlian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as a perfect example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He

Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay, A Modest Proposal, was a true example of satire at its best. Many readers at the time rejected the essay because they failed to understand the irony. It is presently one of the most well known works of satire and is a classic example of the technique most commonly used today. The entire essay from the title down to the last sentence were meant to be taken ironically, which is a rare form, but very effective when trying getting a point across. This essay will explain why the text was meant to be taken ironically and why Swift used irony instead of straightforward statements.

In this research, the researcher discusses the figurative language based on Perrine’s perception. According to Perrine (1977:61-109), figurative language consists of 12 kinds, they are: simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, hyperbole/overstatement, understatement, and irony.