Satire in Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

Question 1 • GA-Literature and Composition I

Which statement best describes Swift’s use of rhetorical devices in this passage?

Answer

Swift uses understatement when he says that Irish boys get “continual exercise”; the boys must endure hard labor on farms.

Swift uses understatement when he calls his friend “so deserving a patriot”; his friend is much more patriotic than Swift suggests.

Swift uses verbal irony when he calls his friend a “patriot”; a true patriot would not suggest using Ireland’s children for food.

Swift uses verbal irony when he says that Irish school boys get a lot of exercise; in reality, they do not get much exercise.

Explanation

Swift’s praise of his friend as a “patriot” is ironic: the friend’s suggestion is presented as serving Ireland, but it involves using Irish children for food. The praise says the opposite of what readers are meant to recognize, which is verbal irony. The exercise reference in D does not carry that same contrast.

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