1. A Modest Proposal March 8, 2017 Ms. Batchelor English 3
Please take out your homework and your copy of “A Modest Proposal”. Please put away your ipads!

2. Objectives
Students will be able to identify elements of satire using Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”.
Students will be able to identify, explain, and provide text evidence for the problems and solutions presented in this essay
Students will be able to create their own examples of invective, hyperbole, understatement, irony, and satire.

3. Historical Context Hunger, poverty, overcrowded conditions
Fear of losing job
Long hours, low wages
Limited opportunities for trade
Restrictions placed on Ireland by England

4. Warm-Up
How would you solve poverty and hunger? If you were a satirist, what would you have done differently, if anything? Do you think Swift was effective in his essay?

5. Guiding Questions
What is the problem, and to what extent is it a problem? What information (text evidence) leads you to your conclusion?
What is the proposed solution? Serious? Preposterous?
What is involved in implementing this proposal?

6. Guiding Questions
Who are the persons who appear to endorse the proposal?
In what ways to their endorsements help or hurt the proposal? How do you know?
What are some of the principal advantages of the proposal?

7. Guiding Questions What are the possible objections to the proposal?
In what ways does Swift concede some of the objections?
In what ways does Swift refute some of the objections?
What means does Swift use to reiterate his apparent sincerity?

8. Through satire Swift explores…
exploitation of children for the benefit of adults
the loss of childhood innocence
harsh conditions for children and the working poor
Absentee landlords

9. Homework
Complete the commonly used satiric devices chart on the back of your homework page