All of your Swift work ("A Modest Proposal" and Gulliver's Travels) was due today.

Today we learned about Samuel Johnson and his contributions to the English language, specifically through his Dictionary of the English Language. Please see the notes for this information and for the in-class activity/assignment.

Your dictionary assignment is due on Monday, February 27.

Additionally, you have a small writing assignment, due on Wednesday, February 29:

In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift proposes a satirical solution to the very real problem of overpopulation and poverty in his native Ireland.

A good satirical solution would:

• Be written in a style that makes it look like the author is being serious (remember: great satire is indistinguishable from the truth!)…
• ...BUT be ridiculous, impossible, or unbelievable (and NOT something you actually would want to happen)…
• …and is designed to point out how ridiculous (evil, unbelievable, etc.) the “powers that be” are, or to draw attention to something that you think is a real problem.

Please write a short satire in which you identify a problem (could be anything, big or small, but make it something that you know a lot about) and propose a satirical solution. It should be a minimum of 300 words long, and no longer than 2 pages typed. HAVE FUN with this!