Read the excerpt from "a modest proposal."
the underlined portions of the excerpt are examples of
verbal irony because
a very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and
whose virtues i highly esteem, was lately in
discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my
scheme. he said that many gentlemen of this kingdom,
having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the
want of venison might be well supply'd by the bodies of
young lads and maidens.
this man truly is virtuous and patriotic, so swift is
surprised by the man's support of eating children to
solve the poverty issue,
anyone who is truly virtuous or patriotic would not
suggest using children for food, so swift means the
opposite of at he says.
this man is a close friend of swift's, so swift is just
expressing his personal thoughts and feelings about the
man's character
anyone who tries to better his country must be virtuous
and patriotic, so swift is simply explaining what is
already obvious to the reader.