Irony

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Irony is a figure of speech which involves the reader or hearer understanding from the tone of the writing or utterance that what is meant is not what is said. The device was known to the Greeks who used the term eironeia to denote dissimulation achieved through deliberate understatement, and an often noted example is the way Socrates in Plato’s Dialogues pretends to be asking very naive questions of other philosophers, in the end to reveal that he has exposed the weak points in their arguments. Greek drama used a similar device -- which is also found in some modern televison crime series -- a character known technically as the eiron who appears as a buffoon but who in the end triumphs those apparently superior. …

1301 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Irony". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1255, accessed 28 March 2024.]

1255 Irony 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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