Rhetorical devices

By rhetorical devices, we refer to those language techniques employed by Jonathan Swift in “A Modest Proposal” to maintain readers’ attention and to persuade them of his arguments.

Irony and satire

In this case, Jonathan Swift uses sustained irony and satire. His purpose is to make readers despise the speaker and pity the Irish. For instance, the speaker of the text presents the awful conditions of poor people only to reach the conclusion that the children of the poor would make delicious meals:

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 cabin 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. (p. 1, ll. 1-4)

…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...