The underlined portions of the excerpt are examples of
verbal irony because
read the excerpt from "a modest proposal."
a very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose
virtues i highly esteem, was lately , in discoursing on
this matter, to offer a refinement upon my scheme. he said,
that many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late
destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison
might be well supply'd by the bodies of young lads and
maidens.
this man truly is virtuous and patriotic, so swift is
surprised by the man's support of eating children to solve
the poverty issue.
anyone who is truly virtuous or patriotic would not
suggest using children for food, so swift means the
opposite of what he says.
this man is a close friend of swift's, so swift is just
expressing his personal thoughts and feelings about the
man's character.
anyone who tries to better his country must be virtuous
and patriotic, so swift is simply explaining what is already
obvious to the reader.