Language

Given that the essay “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift was published in 1729, it comes as no surprise that the language of the text is relatively old-fashioned. Some words are used with a different meaning than they are used today, which might make it hard for the reader to fully understand the text. However, the overall message and arguments remain straightforward and easy to follow.

Choice of words

The choice of words is related to demographics, economics, gastronomy, society, and politics. The fact that the speaker describes poor people in terms of demographics and economics is meant to convey the idea that the human cost of poverty is overlooked, and to convey a critique to the Irish society in which even people are seen as commodities: “I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain a hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born.” (p. 2, ll. 27-29); “I am assured by our merchants that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds...” (p. 3, ll. 3-5)

The choice of words related to gastronomy is extremely ironical, as the speaker talks about the ways in which children ...