In shaping what is widely considered to be one of the most important works of satire in the English language, Swift structures his essay with great care. Roughly the first third of the essay reads like a sincere effort to expose and address the horrifying conditions faced by the poor in Ireland during the early 18th century. In the first lines the narrator characterizes the sight of female beggars surrounded by their broods of starving children as “a melancholy object” (52), later citing this as evidence that Ireland is in a “present deplorable state” (52). These ostensibly genuine lamentations leave the reader unprepared when the narrator finally reveals his grotesque solution to Ireland’s social ills, lending even greater shock value to an already startling proposition. The “modest” in the essay’s title serves a similar purpose by leading the reader to believe that the forthcoming proposal will seem perfectly reasonable to the average Dubliner. As is often the case with comedy today and throughout history, the element of surprise Swift fosters is key to the joke.

These techniques also serve a larger purpose beyond shock value and humor. In characterizing a scheme of utter inhumanity as modest and reasonable, Swift lampoons heartless attitudes toward the poor held by other pamphleteers and social scientists of the 17th and 18th centuries.