... " is verbal irony, in which a writer or speaker says the opposite of what he means. Swift's masterly use of this device makes his main argument, that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English powerful and dreadfully amusing, "Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed ... by pure motive but they are not human. As we know they are not but figuratively they seem like real humans until Swift disclosures them as dull, unsympathetic beings, thoroughly inhumane. They don't take notice in love or do...

• Word Count: 1187
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate