- burthennounChapter 1 →
An older spelling of 'burden,' meaning a heavy load of responsibility or trouble. Here it refers to the financial and social strain that poor children place on their parents and the country.
- publicknounChapter 1 →
An archaic spelling of 'public,' meaning the people of a nation or society as a whole. Swift uses it to mean the general welfare of Irish society.
“I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration”
- projectornounChapter 1 →
In Swift's era, a person who devises grand economic or social schemes, often regarded as a crank or self-important planner. The narrator presents himself as one of these rational policy designers.
- prodigiousadjectiveChapter 1 →
Remarkably large in size or number, almost beyond belief. Swift uses it to emphasize the enormous scale of Irish poverty and the children it produces.
- importuningverbChapter 1 →
Persistently begging or pestering someone for something. The narrator uses it to describe poor mothers aggressively asking passers-by for charity.
- damnounChapter 1 →
The female parent of an animal, especially livestock. Swift deliberately applies this animal-breeding term to human mothers to dehumanize them and reinforce the essay's cold, commercial tone.
- computedverbChapter 1 →
Calculated or estimated a number through a systematic method. The narrator uses it to give his shocking proposal the appearance of careful, scientific accounting.
“of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed”
- reserved for breedphraseChapter 1 →
Set aside for the purpose of reproduction, as one would do with livestock. The phrase applies animal-husbandry language to human children to stress the narrator's dehumanizing logic.
“twenty thousand may be reserved for breed”
- dearadjectiveChapter 1 →
Expensive or costly. The narrator acknowledges the food will not be cheap, which is why he targets wealthy landlords as the buyers.
“I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords”
- devouredverbChapter 1 →
Consumed or destroyed greedily and completely. Here Swift uses it figuratively to mean that landlords have already ruined or exploited the parents through rack-renting and economic oppression.
“who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children”
- titlenounChapter 1 →
A legal or moral right of ownership or claim to something. The narrator sarcastically argues that because landlords have already consumed the parents' livelihoods, they have earned the right to eat the children too.
“seem to have the best title to the children”
- knowingadjectiveChapter 1 →
Well-informed or experienced in a particular subject. The narrator uses it to lend authority to his American source, making the cannibalistic suggestion sound like expert testimony.
“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London”
- nourishingadjectiveChapter 1 →
Providing the body with the nutrients needed for health and growth. The narrator uses nutritional language to make his proposal sound like a reasonable dietary recommendation.
“a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food”
- wholesomeadjectiveChapter 1 →
Good for one's health; clean and beneficial as food. The narrator applies this reassuring word to the eating of children to heighten the grotesque contrast between tone and content.
“a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, r…”
- absentee landlordsphraseChapter 1 →
Property owners who collect rent from tenants in Ireland but live elsewhere, typically in England, taking wealth out of the country without contributing to it. Swift saw them as a root cause of Irish poverty.
- shillingsnounChapter 1 →
British coins worth one-twentieth of a pound sterling, used as everyday currency in Swift's time. The narrator prices children in shillings to frame the proposal as a straightforward commercial transaction.
A Modest ProposalNon-fiction by Jonathan Swift