“A Modest Proposal”

Cultural

(1729) An essay by Jonathan Swift, often called a masterpiece of irony. The full title is “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of the Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to Their Public.” Swift emphasizes the terrible poverty of eighteenth-century Ireland by ironically proposing that Irish parents earn money by selling their children as food.

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The phrase “a modest proposal” is often used ironically to introduce a major innovative suggestion.

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“A Modest Proposal”

If you haven’t read “A Modest Proposal” since high school, look it up again and be astounded.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 28, 2017

Probably not, since very little literature endures as well as “A Modest Proposal” has.

From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2014

“A Modest Proposal” is Swift’s breathtaking achievement in this genre.

From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2014

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023