Jonathan Swift and

1
Jonathan Swift and A Modest Proposal

• Swift was born in Dublin in 1667.
• Swift was born into the Anglo-Irish ruling class.
  
• He joined the Anglican Church in 1694, and was
  named the dean of St. Patricks Cathedral in
  Dublin in 1713.
• He initially viewed his time in Ireland as an
  exile, and sought to return to England.

2
Ireland in Swifts Day

• Ireland had been controlled by England for almost
  500 years.
• Stuart kingship established a Protestant
  governing aristocracy amid the countrys
  relatively poor Catholic population.
• Ireland suffered through trade restrictions and
  very limited political voice.

3
Political Involvement

• Over the years, Swift became known as an Irish
  patriot, even though he viewed himself as more
  English than Irish.
• His loyalty to Ireland was often ambivalent, even
  though he staunchly supported certain Irish
  causes.

4
Political Involvement and Satirical Works

• During the 1720s, Swift became highly engaged in
  Irish politics.
• He wrote the famous Gullivers Travels during
  this timea full-length satire of the
  England-Ireland situation.
• A Modest Proposal was published in 1729 in
  response to worsening conditions in Ireland.

5
The Essay

• A Modest Proposal did not initially have the
  effect that Swift intendedreaders were not
  shocked, and the economics were seen as a joke,
  not as scathing criticism.
• A Modest Proposal was the last of Swifts
  essays about Ireland. After writing it, he
  focused primarily on poetry.