A Modest Proposal

"A Modest Proposal" Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" on the surface follows the classical elements of persuasive writing that we use today. His essay is often modeled in editorials and columns today. However, with careful attention to his audience and a few clever tricks, Swift uses these classical elements to his own purpose, and the reader is caught in a persuasive trap. Let's see how he accomplishes this. The last half of the …

…maintaining a serious and sincere tone throughout the text, Swift's outlandish proposal makes for dark humor. The reader must ask himself how anyone could propose such a solution. Writing during a time when objectivity and self-control were revered, Swift writes his essay using the rhetoric of the formal proposal. This classical form is a forerunner to today's format for effective essay or editorial; and, in fact, his form is often modeled for modern "not-so-modest" proposals