I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.

Basic set up:

In this satirical tract about the treatment of Irish people, Swift suggests that the babies of poor Irish people should be eaten to alleviate poverty and keep the economy afloat.

Swift's essay is a great example of the way that Augustan writers took on political and social issues. Swift was a big critic of English policy in Ireland, which, if you've read up on your history, you'll know was pretty freakin' brutal.

Here Swift is pointing out just how heartless and cruel the English were toward the Irish, and especially the poor Irish… which, let's face it, was most of the Irish. Hey, Swift is saying, you might as well just eat Irish babies, since you're ruining them, anyway.

Satire is the mode of this essay. Swift, of course, doesn't actually mean that we should all go off and eat Irish babies. He's being ironic. He's suggesting something so outrageous, so cruel, and so horrible that it's funny and scary all at once.

The point is, by deploying this satirical mode, Swift is reflecting back to his (English) readers their own cruelty toward the Irish. By making such an outrageous proposal (eating babies isn't "modest" by any stretch of the imagination, is it?), he's exposing the terrible treatment of the Irish.