Read the following passage from Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal":

Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed; and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken, to ease the nation of so grievous an incumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected.

Explain Swift's point of view on the poverty problem in Ireland. Then, analyze how Swift uses satire to express that viewpoint. Support your analysis with specific examples from the passage.

Swift is concerned with the problem of poverty in Ireland. In this passage specifically, he is concerned with those people who are "aged, diseased or maimed." He knows that this is of great importance to both the people themselves and to the well-being of the country.

However, Swift also believes that many others are not concerned about them in the least. He mocks these people in the passage by using satire. He calls the sick and old people an "incumbrance," implying that this is the way they are seen by some. He also tells us to not worry about the situation too much because these people are constantly dying. He says this in a positive way, even though it is a horrible reality. In this way, he continues to display a satirical intent.