A Modest Proposal

Name: A Modest Proposal
Author: Jonathan Swift

by Jonathan Swift

Satirical essay proposing cannibalism of Irish infants to solve poverty and famine

Find on Amazon

About the author

Jonathan Swift

Irish clergyman and satirist whose Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal are the most savage political satires in the English language. His targets include philosophical optimism, colonial exploitation, and political corruption. He spent his later years as Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

More by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's TravelsSatirical adventure novel of traveler visiting fantastical kingdoms with allegorical meanings
A Tale of a TubSatirical allegory mocking pedantry and religious dispute between Christian denominations
The Battle of the BooksMock-heroic satire depicting a literary war between ancient and modern texts and authors
Journal to StellaPersonal letters to a woman whom the author addresses affectionately as Stella
Collected Poems
Cadenus and VanessaPoem narrating a man's passionate relationship with a woman of higher social station