• skip to Main Navigation
  • skip to Main Content
  • skip to Footer
CommonLit Logo CommonLit
  • Login
  • |
  • Sign up
  • Library
    • Browse All Content
    • Browse Units
    • Search Library
      • Search by text title, author, topic, keyword, etc.
    • Browse By
    • Book
      • Book Pairings View All
      • 1984
      • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
      • The Alchemist
      • Animal Farm
      • The Autobiography of Malcolm X
      • The Bell Jar
      • Beloved
      • Beowulf
      • Black Boy
      • The Book Thief
      • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
      • Brave New World
      • Bridge to Terabithia
      • Brown Girl Dreaming
      • Bud, Not Buddy
      • Catch 22
      • The Catcher in the Rye
      • The Chocolate War
      • The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child
      • Code Talker
      • The Color Purple
      • The Count of Monte Cristo
      • The Crossover
      • The Crucible
      • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
      • Death of a Salesman
      • The Diary of a Young Girl
      • Dragonwings
      • Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
      • Eight Days: A Story of Haiti
      • Esperanza Rising
      • Fahrenheit 451
      • Farewell to Manzanar
      • The Fault in Our Stars
      • Fences
      • Flush
      • Frankenstein
      • Frightful’s Mountain
      • The Giver
      • The Grapes of Wrath
      • The Great Gatsby
      • Grendel
      • Hamlet
      • The Handmaid's Tale
      • Heart of Darkness
      • The Hobbit
      • Holes
      • The House on Mango Street
      • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
      • Incantation
      • Inside Out & Back Again
      • In the Time of the Butterflies
      • Island of the Blue Dolphins
      • Jacob Have I Loved
      • Jane Eyre
      • The Joy Luck Club
      • Just Mercy
      • The Lightning Thief
      • A Long Walk to Water
      • Lord of the Flies
      • Lyddie
      • Macbeth
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
      • Moby Dick
      • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
      • Night
      • Number the Stars
      • The Odyssey
      • Of Mice and Men
      • The Old Man and the Sea
      • Othello
      • The Outsiders
      • Persepolis
      • The Poisonwood Bible
      • Pride and Prejudice
      • Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America
      • A Raisin in the Sun
      • The Remains of the Day
      • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
      • Sahara Special
      • The Scarlet Letter
      • The Secret Life of Bees
      • A Streetcar Named Desire
      • The Sun Also Rises
      • Things Fall Apart
      • To Kill A Mockingbird
      • The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963
      • The Wave
      • When I was Puerto Rican
      • Wide Sargasso Sea
      • Wonder
      • World Without Fish
    • Genre
      • Genres
      • Allegory
      • Autobiography
      • Biography
      • Drama
      • Essay
      • Fable
      • Fantasy
      • Fiction
      • Folktale
      • Historical Document
      • Historical Fiction
      • Informational Text
      • Interview
      • Legal Document
      • Letter
      • Literary Theory
      • Magical Realism
      • Memoir
      • Myth
      • News
      • Non-Fiction
      • Opinion
      • Parable
      • Philosophy
      • Poem
      • Political Theory
      • Primary Source Document
      • Psychology
      • Quotation
      • Religious Text
      • Satire
      • Science Fiction
      • Short Story
      • Skill Lesson
      • Song
      • Speech
    • Grade Level
      • Grade Levels
      • 3rd Grade
      • 4th Grade
      • 5th Grade
      • 6th Grade
      • 7th Grade
      • 8th Grade
      • 9th Grade
      • 10th Grade
      • 11th Grade
      • 12th Grade
    • Literary Device
      • Literary Devices
      • Alliteration
      • Assonance
      • Characterization
      • Consonance
      • Diction
      • Dramatic Irony
      • Ethos
      • External Conflict
      • Figurative Language
      • Flashback
      • Foreshadowing
      • Form
      • Free Verse
      • Hyperbole
      • Imagery
      • Internal Conflict
      • Irony
      • Juxtaposition
      • Logos
      • Meter
      • Mood
      • Paradox
      • Pathos
      • Point of View
      • Repetition
      • Rhetoric
      • Rhyme
      • Suspense
      • Symbolism
      • Theme
      • Tone
      • Unreliable Narrator
    • Text Set
      • Text Sets View All
      • African Cultures and History
      • The American Colonies
      • American Modernism
      • American Realism
      • The American Revolution
      • American Romanticism
      • Ancient Civilizations Around the World
      • Ancient Egypt
      • Ancient Greece
      • Ancient Rome
      • Argument, Bias, and Persuasion
      • Asian Authors and Cultures
      • Black Authors
      • Black Heritage
      • Black History
      • British Literature: 20th Century
      • British Literature: The English Renaissance
      • British Literature: The Extended 18th Century
      • British Literature: The Victorian Era
      • British Romanticism
      • The Civil Rights Movement
      • The Civil War
      • The Cold War
      • College and Career Choices
      • COVID-19
      • Dystopian Literature
      • Founding the United States
      • The Gilded Age
      • The Great Depression
      • The Harlem Renaissance
      • The Holocaust
      • Horror & Suspense
      • Immigration
      • Influential Speeches
      • International Revolutions
      • Irish Literature and Heritage
      • Jewish Authors and Heritage
      • Latinx Authors and History
      • Modern Democracy in America
      • Mythology
      • Native American History and Authors
      • Nature and Conservation
      • Political Theory
      • The Progressive Era
      • Psychology and the Mind
      • Reconstruction to Jim Crow
      • Russian Literature
      • Science of the Body
      • Slavery and Abolition in America
      • Social Emotional Learning
      • Space
      • STEM
      • Texts for Talking About Race
      • Transcendentalism
      • The Vietnam War
      • Westward Expansion
      • Women's Rights
      • Workers' Rights
      • World War I
      • World War II
    • Theme
      • Themes View All
      • America
      • Beauty & Happiness
      • Comedy & Tragedy
      • Community
      • Death
      • Education & Knowledge
      • Fate & Free Will
      • Fear & Paranoia
      • Friendship & Family
      • Growing Up
      • Honor & Courage
      • Identity
      • Justice, Freedom & Equality
      • Loneliness & Isolation
      • Love
      • Man vs. Nature
      • Men & Women
      • Morality
      • Power & Greed
      • Prejudice & Discrimination
      • Resilience & Success
      • Revenge & Betrayal
      • Social Change & Revolution
      • Social Pressure
      • Technology, Progress & Industry
      • War & Peace
    • Spanish Texts
  • Text
  • Paired Texts
  • Related Media
  • Teacher Guide
  • Parent Guide
    • Related Media
    • Teacher Guide
    • Parent Guide
  • CommonLit School Essentials

CREATE ACCOUNT

I am an educator
I am a parent/guardian
CommonLit is 100% free for teachers and students.

Enter Class Code

Existing User? Log In
Beginning of dialog window. It begins with a heading 3 called "Create Account". It has two buttons, one for educators that takes you to the educator sign up page and one for students that takes you to another modal which allows you to enter your class code for your enrolled class. Escape will cancel and close the window. This form does not collect any actual information.
Library     A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General     Paired Texts

Paired Texts > A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General

by Jonathan Swift

1722

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

10th Grade Poem
The War Works Hard
  • Dunya Mikhail
  • 2005

Born and raised in Iraq, Dunya Mikhail (1965—) has written much about the wars she lived through in her home country, until she was forced to flee the country in 1996 after threats and harrassment from the government. This satirical poem praises the diligence of war and its effects, from "provid[ing] food for flies" to "invigorat[ing] the coffin makers."

Pair “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” with “The War Works Hard” and ask students to compare how both authors use satire to send a message about political leaders and their actions.

9th Grade Poem
Nothing Gold Can Stay
  • Robert Frost
  • 1923

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was one of the most popular and critically respected American poets in history. His poems frequently employ rural scenes from the New England countryside. “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” published in 1923, uses nature to describe aging and the inevitable course of time.

Pair “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” with “Nothing Gold Can Stay” to get students to discuss the portrayal of mortality in poetry.

12th Grade Satire 1540L
A Modest Proposal
  • Jonathan Swift
  • 1729

In this famous work of satire, Jonathan Swift proposes a ridiculous and immoral strategy to deal with with overcrowding, overpopulation, and poverty in Ireland.

Pair “A Satirical Elegy” with “A Modest Proposal” for an in-depth analysis of Jonathan Swift’s works of satire.

12th Grade Poem
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
  • Thomas Gray
  • 1751

Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was an English poet and scholar. An elegy is a mournful or melancholic poem meant to lament the dead. In “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” the speaker contemplates whether remembering the dead is good or bad as he imagines the people buried in the churchyard.

Pair “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” with “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of the Late Famous General” and ask students to compare how the two authors of the same period used different tones to comment on death, especially the deaths of the rich, powerful, and famous. How do the themes compare? Which tone is more effective at conveying the theme?

11th Grade Poem
Ozymandias
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • 1818

In this poem, Shelley uses the description of a ruined statue to explore the transient nature of power and life.

Both “Ozymandias” and “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” use irony to comment on deceased leaders, but have very different tones. Ask students to discuss the contrasting tones and support their responses with specific details from both texts.

  • About
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Curriculum
  • Donate
  • FAQ
  • Partners
  • Press
  • Research
  • Security
  • Parents & Guardians
  • CommonLit School Essentials
  • Español
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
© 2014-2021 CommonLit. ™ | CommonLit is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.