1. POETRY
IRONY - PARADOX

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 Ms. Hanlon!”

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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 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.

9. 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

10. OVERSTATEMENT & UNDERSTATEMENT
OVERSTATEMENT (HYPERBOLE): exaggeration in the service of truth
UNDERSTATEMENT (LITOTES, or Meiosis): saying less than one means