Considering Modest Proposal, it is astounding how deftly Swift deals with two terrible subjects. Few writers would ever dare taking on the topics of famine and infanticide. Cannibalistic infanticide, no less. I mean, eating babies. Babies!
And Swift doesn’t harp on these subjects with a pound of the fist. He does so with a wink and a nod. His touch is so light that he reveals to us the ridiculousness of one subject by giving away the inherent ridiculousness of another. By using his signature satire, he shows to us how absolutely, devastatingly horrible something was, and he even allows us a little laugh about it. Few writers can do these two things at the same time. But this is what Swift made his living doing. To make us think while laughing is what all great comedians do – just think of Carlin – and Swift may have done it better than anyone else in history.