★★★★★ A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift
Possibly the most brilliant satire ever written
A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift
Possibly the most brilliant satire ever written
I had the good fortune to first experience A Modest Proposal in audio format -- one day I walked into my high school English class, and our teacher read it aloud to us. It was one of the best lectures (yes -- remember, the word "lecture" literally means "reading") I have ever attended. I can still remember the snorts and teenage heads jerking up as the nature of Swift's proposal gradually dawned on us. Swift is sneaky -- as he begins it sounds like just another boring policy white paper. And even when he does get into the meat of the idea, the archaic language was a little tough for a high school student to digest. But it wasn't long before every teenager in that class got it.
I have to wonder now if a high school English teacher would be allowed to read this in class. It would offend someone's sensibilities -- after all, that's the whole point -- and some parents solicitous of the tender ears of their child would certainly object.
I just reread it. A Modest Proposal is in the public domain -- you can easily find it free, for instance at Project Gutenberg. The whole thing is 2692 words -- you can read it in a few minutes. And if you never have, you should. It would be difficult to find a better way to employ ten minutes.