POETRY
IRONY - PARADOX
IRONY:
a mode of expression, through
words [verbal irony] or events
[irony of situation], conveying a
reality different from and usually
opposite to appearance or
expectation
–The ability to detect irony is
sometimes heralded as a test of
intelligence and sophistication
Techniques for creating irony:
say the opposite of what one
means
create a reversal between
expectation and its fulfillment
give the audience knowledge
that a character lacks
Verbal irony:
the writer’s meaning or even
his attitude may be different
from what he says
–Example: after Ms. Hanlon
gives a very hard and very
unfair exam, the students
proclaim as they walk out:
“Have a nice weekend Mr.
Rishel!”
Situational irony:
a situation in which there is an
incongruity between actual
circumstances and those that
would seem appropriate or
between what is anticipated and
what actually comes to pass
–Example: if a professional
pickpocket had his own pocket
picked just as he was in the act
of picking someone else’s
pocket
Dramatic irony:
where the audience has knowledge
that gives additional meaning to a
character’s words
Example: In Oedipus the King,
King Oedipus, who has
unknowingly killed his father,
says that he will banish his
father’s killer when he finds him
BLOOM’S DEFINITIONS OF IRONY
When a writer or character says one thing and
means another, often the opposite of what was
explicitly stated
Juxtaposition of “antithetical ideas” or ideas that
are in direct opposition to one another
Multiple, and sometimes differing, definitions of a
single subject
The imaginative ideas that spark our interests
and curiosities as a reader; Remember
Thoreau’s “free and wild thinking”?
SARCASM, SATIRE, & IRONY
SARCASM: cruel – intention: to cause injury
SATIRE: cruel & kind – intention: to ridicule in
order to create reform
IRONY: simply a tool or device used in the
service of creating sarcasm or satire
Sarcasm is cruel as a bully is cruel: it intends to
give hurt. Satire is both cruel and kind, as a
surgeon is cruel and kind: it gives hurt in the
interest of the patient. Irony is neither cruel or
kind: it is simply a device, like a bully’s fist or a
surgeon’s scalpel, for performing any operation
more skillfully.
PARADOX
An apparent contradiction that is nevertheless somehow
true
What at first seems impossible is actually entirely
plausible and not strange at all
The contradiction usually stems from one of the words
being used figuratively or in more than one sense
Contains a shock value; its seeming impossibility startles
the reader into attention and its absurdity underscores
the truth of what is being said
EXAMPLE: “I must be cruel only to be kind.” --Hamlet
OVERSTATEMENT &
UNDERSTATEMENT
OVERSTATEMENT (HYPERBOLE):
exaggeration in the service of truth
UNDERSTATEMENT (LITOTES): saying
less than one means
EXAMPLES
“The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another
about reading is to take no advice.”
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded / That all
the Apostles would have done as they did.
A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to
pick a pocket.
Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe
how much it altered her person for the worse.
. . . Where ignorance is bliss, / ‘Tis folly to be wise.
All night I made my bed to swim; with my tears I dissolved
my couch.
Believe him, he has know the world too long, / And seen the
death of much immortal song.
Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant
never did but once.
. . . all men would be cowards if they durst.