A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal is what type of satire — Horatian or Juvenalian — and why.
Juvenalian. The tone is bitter and angry, condemning the serious injustice of English indifference to Irish poverty.
What is 'Bunburying' and what social reality does Wilde expose through it?
Using a fictional invalid as an excuse to escape social obligations. Wilde exposes that Victorian social duties were so stifling that deception became rational.
What is the difference between a poem's subject and its theme?
Subject = what the poem literally describes. Theme = the larger claim about life the poem makes through that subject.
A blog post claims 'thousands of scientists agree' with no names, no linked evidence, and no citations. What is the single most important question to ask?
Can the specific claim be traced to a named, verifiable source or body of evidence?
Define hyperbole and give one example from 'A Modest Proposal.'
Deliberate extreme exaggeration to emphasize absurdity. Example: calculating the price per pound of an Irish baby as a food commodity.
Swift's narrator uses calm economic calculations and statistics. What literary device does this cold, logical tone represent?
Irony — the rational tone makes the moral grotesqueness more visible by contrast.
Gwendolen says she can only love a man named Ernest. What satirical technique is this, and what does it expose?
Reversal — a trivial thing (a name) is elevated to supreme importance, exposing how misdirected Victorian values are.
A poem uses the image of an empty birdcage throughout to represent a relationship the speaker left. Name the device.
Extended metaphor — a single comparison developed and elaborated across the entire poem.
A source is published by 'The Institute for Historical Accuracy' but has no author names, no board, no address, and no citations. What does this combination tell you?
There is no way to verify who is responsible for the content — it is not credible for academic use.
What is the most significant difference between how Swift and Wilde use satire?
Swift uses Juvenalian satire — bitter anger aimed at a specific injustice, meant to outrage. Wilde uses Horatian satire — wit and comedy aimed at social absurdity, meant to amuse.
The narrator dismisses real solutions like taxing absentee landlords without seriously engaging them. What does this reveal about Swift's satirical target?
The ruling class has no genuine interest in fixing the problem — they dismiss practical solutions easily.
Miss Prism placed a baby in a handbag and a manuscript in the baby carriage. What does this comic mix-up satirize?
That respectable Victorian institutions produce confusion and misplace value — treating people like objects and literature like cargo.
A poet writes a grief poem in sonnet form. What might an analyst argue about this formal choice?
The tight controlled form might mirror how a grieving person tries to contain overwhelming emotion, with the turn marking a shift in that containment.
You find a striking claim: 'NASA admitted in documents that the moon landing was filmed in a studio.' What is the most responsible next step?
Search for the original NASA documents referenced to determine if they exist and if the claim accurately represents them.
A poem shifts from describing a sunny garden in the first stanza to a frost-covered yard in the last. No plot occurs between them. What should the analyst consider first?
What emotional or thematic shift the imagery enacts — warmth to cold, growth to dormancy — and what larger claim the poem makes through that contrast.
Define 'persona' and explain its function in this essay.
A fictional voice adopted by an author. Here it creates ironic distance, dramatizing the logic of the powerful from the inside.
Define dramatic irony and give one example from this play.
When the audience knows something a character doesn't. Example: the audience knows Jack isn't really Ernest while Gwendolen believes he is.
What are the three required components of strong poetic evidence?
1) Quotation from the poem 2) Name the device 3) Explain how the device advances the poem's theme.
Your research turns up almost no sources challenging the conspiracy theory. What should you do and why?
Actively search for credible opposing sources — balanced research requires engaging with counterevidence or the conclusion is untrustworthy.
A student writes: 'The imagery in this poem is very powerful and emotional.' Why is this weak literary analysis?
It names no specific image, identifies no device with precision, and makes no argument about how imagery connects to meaning.
What should a reader ultimately FEEL after reading an effective Juvenalian satire like this one?
Genuine outrage at the real injustice — the satirist wants readers to demand actual change.
The play ends with Jack's real name actually being Ernest. What does this accidental resolution suggest about Wilde's satirical view of Victorian society?
That the social world is so arbitrary that even accidental truth satisfies its requirements — exposing how shallow those requirements are.
A speaker addresses a dead person as if they can hear. What is the name of this device?
Apostrophe — addressing someone absent, dead, or unable to respond.
What is the difference between an annotated bibliography and a standard works cited page?
An annotation also requires: (1) summary of the source, (2) evaluation of credibility/bias, and (3) explanation of how it will be used.
What one skill connects all three units studied this year — satire, poetry, and research?
Reading closely, questioning surface meaning, and building an argument supported by specific evidence from the text or source.