In doing either task you should quote directly (in quotation marks) or refer to details of the text to support your comments.īack to top What does Swift propose in this pamphlet?
You should choose one of the two tasks below, and use the study guide to direct your writing about the Modest Proposal. Later, you will be expected to write about other texts which are like this one in some way or ways, and compare them together. You are expected to write about what Swift says and how he does so. You are not expected to have any special knowledge of the history of Ireland, and most of the information you need can be found in the Proposal itself. Swift knows, in writing the Proposal, that in living memory, Irish people had been driven to cannibalism. There was no social security system and starvation was as common as in the Third World today. If the labourers lost their work, there would always be other poor people to take it up. Many of them were not born in Ireland, nor did they live there permanently. This ruling class were usually Protestants. The landlords (landowners) were paid from the produce of the land, at rates which the workers could rarely afford. Most people born there were Roman Catholics and employed as agricultural labourers or tenant farmers.
At this time, and for many years afterward, Ireland (not an independent country) was far poorer than England. Swift published the Modest Proposal in 1729 as a pamphlet (a kind of essay in an unbound booklet). In such cases, where the guide refers to writing, you may respond by speaking.Ī Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who is well-known as the author of the satirical political fantasy, Gulliver's Travels. The tasks may work well as speaking and listening activities you are encouraged to present these live or make use of tape-recording or multi-media software recording to show your work. If you wish to use computer software for your work, this is quite appropriate. If you wish to work traditionally these activities can be done in an exercise book, or as a booklet using your own skills in illustration and writing. Read the text thoroughly - perhaps with some help from a teacher, and attempt one of the tasks described on this guide - or agree some other task with your teacher. The guide suggests ways of responding to Jonathan Swift's pamphlet A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. This study guide has been written for students and their teachers in KS3 and KS4 in the UK but may be suitable for students elsewhere. Navigation Home page Contents Forum Maximize Search Comment Mail me Author
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