A Modest Proposal Essay: Ireland, England And Swift
Paper Topic 1: Ireland, England and Swift.
Early in the 18th century turmoil began to brew in Ireland. A series of rulings in the British house of Parliament took more and more control out of the hands of the Irish. Britain passed laws and instituted practices that were highly lucrative to it self yet immensely damaging to the people of its colonies (Colley 213). A number of political and intellectual figures began to speak out on the atrocities enacted upon the people of their homelands. Countless satirists took it upon themselves to initiate awareness of the conditions and havoc, if not a total social revolution.
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist and political pamphleteer who today is considered one of the greatest masters of English …show more content…
He felt England was raping Ireland for all it was worth. While the people of his home country begged in the streets and died of starvation in the gutters, England and her people sat idly by and grew fat on wealth garnered from Ireland (Read npg). The indignation and resentment Swift felt towards the English can be seen not only in A Modest Proposal. The Majority of Swift 's work is jeering at best, indignant and bitingly cynical at worst. In 1727 Swift made his final trip to England. What he saw on this trip was the straw that broke the figurative camel 's back. The English insensitivity to the Irish plight impelled Swift to embark on his most mocking and derisive works (Norfolk …show more content…
Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837; 1992,University Press, Boston Kelly, James. Henry Flood: Patriots and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Ireland; 1990 University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind Norfolk Academy. Jonathan Swift18th Century English Satirist; "http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.us/project/swift/swift.htm" Access date 2-27-02 Quigley, Michael. Irish Historical Studies; "http://www.xs4all.nl/~tbreen/Journals/Hist.html" Access Date 2-24-02 Read, Charles A. Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) Original Publication: The Cabinet of Irish Literature, Dublin: 1880 " http://genealogy.org/~ajmorris/ireland/swift.htm" Access Date
Early in the 18th century turmoil began to brew in Ireland. A series of rulings in the British house of Parliament took more and more control out of the hands of the Irish. Britain passed laws and instituted practices that were highly lucrative to it self yet immensely damaging to the people of its colonies (Colley 213). A number of political and intellectual figures began to speak out on the atrocities enacted upon the people of their homelands. Countless satirists took it upon themselves to initiate awareness of the conditions and havoc, if not a total social revolution.
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist and political pamphleteer who today is considered one of the greatest masters of English …show more content…
He felt England was raping Ireland for all it was worth. While the people of his home country begged in the streets and died of starvation in the gutters, England and her people sat idly by and grew fat on wealth garnered from Ireland (Read npg). The indignation and resentment Swift felt towards the English can be seen not only in A Modest Proposal. The Majority of Swift 's work is jeering at best, indignant and bitingly cynical at worst. In 1727 Swift made his final trip to England. What he saw on this trip was the straw that broke the figurative camel 's back. The English insensitivity to the Irish plight impelled Swift to embark on his most mocking and derisive works (Norfolk …show more content…
Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837; 1992,University Press, Boston Kelly, James. Henry Flood: Patriots and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Ireland; 1990 University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind Norfolk Academy. Jonathan Swift18th Century English Satirist; "http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.us/project/swift/swift.htm" Access date 2-27-02 Quigley, Michael. Irish Historical Studies; "http://www.xs4all.nl/~tbreen/Journals/Hist.html" Access Date 2-24-02 Read, Charles A. Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) Original Publication: The Cabinet of Irish Literature, Dublin: 1880 " http://genealogy.org/~ajmorris/ireland/swift.htm" Access Date