1. Jonathan Swift and “A Modest Proposal” Swift was born in Dublin in 1667. Swift was born into the Anglo-Irish ruling class. He joined the Anglican Church in 1694, and was named the dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin in 1713. He initially viewed his time in Ireland as an exile, and sought to return to England.

2. Ireland in Swift’s Day Ireland had been controlled by England for almost 500 years. Stuart kingship established a Protestant governing aristocracy amid the country’s relatively poor Catholic population. Ireland suffered through trade restrictions and very limited political voice.

3. Political Involvement Over the years, Swift became known as an Irish patriot, even though he viewed himself as more English than Irish. His loyalty to Ireland was often ambivalent, even though he staunchly supported certain Irish causes.

4. Political Involvement and Satirical Works During the 1720s, Swift became highly engaged in Irish politics. He wrote the famous “Gulliver’s Travels” during this time—a full-length satire of the England-Ireland situation. “A Modest Proposal” was published in 1729 in response to worsening conditions in Ireland.

5. The Essay “A Modest Proposal” did not initially have the effect that Swift intended—readers were not shocked, and the economics were seen as a joke, not as scathing criticism. “A Modest Proposal” was the last of Swift’s essays about Ireland. After writing it, he focused primarily on poetry.