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Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected. It typically figures as a rhetorical device and literary technique. In some philosophical contexts, however, it takes on a larger significance as an entire way of life.
For example, the phrase, "John, my best friend" uses the scheme known as apposition. Tropes (from Greek trepein, 'to turn') change the general meaning of words. An example of a trope is irony, which is the use of words to convey the opposite of their usual meaning ("For Brutus is an honorable man; / So are they all, all honorable men").
Irony punctuation is any form of notation proposed or used to denote irony or sarcasm in written text. Written text, in English and other languages, lacks a standard way to mark irony, and several forms of punctuation have been proposed to fill the gap. The oldest is the percontation point in the form of a reversed question mark (βΈ®), proposed ...
A painting of Jonathan Swift. Swift's essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of English literature.Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, so that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states: "A young healthy child ...
A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech. [1] Keith and Lundburg describe a trope as "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". [2] The word trope has also undergone a semantic change and now also describes commonly ...
Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, [ 1 ] it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, hence the name poetic irony.
Paradox (literature) In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain ...
Sarcasm. A sarcastic response written on a table that reads: Wow, you are SO deep! Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. [1] Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, [2] although it is not necessarily ironic. [3]