Read the excerpt from "a modest proposal."
i profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that i have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. i have no children, by which i can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
which statement best describes how irony is used in this excerpt?
swift states that he is speaking from “the sincerity in [his] heart.”
swift states that he has an interest in “the publick good of [his] country.”
swift states that the youngest of his children is “nine years old.”
swift states that his “wife is past child-bearing” age.

Swift states that he has an interest in “the public good of [his] country.”

Explanation:

This statement is the best example of irony. Irony occurs when the events included in the story are very different from those that the reader expected. In this case, if Swift cared about his country, the reader would expect him to suggest something altruistic, kind and uplifting for the people of the country. However, his suggestion of eating their children is ironic because it is very different from what would normally be expected.

hi there!

one thousand and one nights, also called the arabian nights is a collection of middle eastern tales compiled in arabic during the islamic golden age, dated from the 8th to the 14th century. this collection was compiled of largely middle eastern and indian stories with an uncertain date and autorship whose tales such as aladdin, ali baba and sinbad the sailor -these ones were the most popular ones, the ones that have almost become part of western folklore.

as in much medieval european literature, the stories contained in this collection are set within a frame story. its scene is central asia, as known as "the islands or peninsulae of india and china", where king shahryar kills his wife after discovering her infidelities and as well as any other who betrayed him.   then, loathing all womankind, he marries and kills his new wife each day until no more candidates could have been found. his vizier had two daughters, scheherezade and dunyazad. the elder one -scheherezade- having devised a scheme to save herself and the others insisted that her father needed to give her in marriage to the king. each evening, she used to tell a story leaving it incomplete and promising to finish it the following night. the stories kept the king very interested, so eager to hear evey ending of each story, that he puts off her execution from day to day and finally he decided to give up with his plan. these stories are contained within the collection of 1001 nights, the bulk of the text is in prose, although verse is usually used for songs and riddles to express better the heightened emotion of them.

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