Verbal Irony is also known as "Parody", a communication device used to make fun something or simply to produce a comic effect by imitation and exaggeration, usually as a critique.
The Irish writer, Jonathan Swift, was known for being a satirist and a master of "dry humor" (blunt ironic remarks) which he displayed in his works; and especially the verbal irony he uses in "A Modest Proposal", a satirical essay written by him (anonymously) in 1729.
Like when he declare he's speaking "from the sincerity in his heart" to announce the "Modest Proposal to prevent the Children of poor people from being a burden to their parents or country, and making them beneficial to the public"; advising Irish parents to sell their children as food for the rich, in order to solve their financial issues caused by the economical conditions of the nation at that time.
