Final answer:
Dryden's "Mac Flecknoe" is a personal satire mocking a fellow poet, while Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is a horatian satire critiquing British policy towards the Irish poor. The former uses extended metaphor and mock-heroism, while the latter uses irony and understatements to attack the ruling class's inhumane attitudes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The satirical modes of Dryden's "Mac Flecknoe" and Swift's "A Modest Proposal" both employ satire to critique and ridicule their respective subjects. However, they do so in notably different ways. Dryden's poem is a personal and direct satire, targeting the perceived ineptitude of a fellow poet, Thomas Shadwell, through extended metaphor and mock-heroic form.
He employs humorous exaggeration and wit to lampoon Shadwell, presenting the throne of dullness as a hereditary position for which Shadwell is the next unworthy successor. On the other hand, Swift's "A Modest Proposal" utilizes a more horatian satire, presenting an outrageous solution to the problem of poverty in Ireland—cannibalism of infants—to satirize British policy and the cold, calculative way the ruling class perceived the poor.
Swift's work employs irony and understatements that mock the detachment and inhumane attitudes of the British toward the plight of the Irish. The contrast in satirical tactics—personal ridicule versus a scathing critique of social policy—demonstrates the versatile nature of satire in literature.