Stacia Linz

SLM 521

IRONY: GROUP WORK

We’ve made a spirited and thus-far casual discussion of Irony in class, as one of the most important literary conventions for you to make use of in your own writing (or, again, with your visuals: do you “expect” that turtle above to be tying on track shoes?)

The key to all irony is the DISCONNECT or THWARTED EXPECTATION of meaning. Put another way, the degree to which irony is successful can be measured by the mental thud of the person experiencing the irony. Again, irony is an extremely useful tool to have in your box!

In a nutshell, in literature there are three classically recognized types of irony:

1. Verbal irony—saying one thing, meaning another. The literal meaning is often the opposite. Ex: sarcasm.
2. Dramatic Irony—the audience understands something different than the character(s); expression disjuncted with awareness.
3. Situational Irony—the often-humorous disconnect between what was expected to happen, and what really happens. Ex: the foreclosure sign hammered into the ground strikes oil.

Using the links below as a starting point, I’d like you to further explore the concept of Irony for yourselves. You will do some digging around on the Internet about theory, and then come back for a group discussion and share what you have learned.

IRONY~places to explore:

Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics definition --Don’t be frightened by the scholarliness of this link. You will see that you are connecting to the Bookrags site, which is a great source of information and will be useful to you in later assignments. I want you to get used to seeing an academic definition, and expect you to follow the hotlinks to other terms you do not understand (I do not expect you to know what a “trope” is, yet!)

http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/irony-grk--dissimulation-ie-tf/

Wikipedia page—a different kind of resource for you, this Wikipedia page will give you a range of scholarly and culturally relevant explanations of Irony. Please read the entire page, and explore its links, at your interest and need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony

What is Irony?--About.com—About.com articles are written by an “authority”—that is, they have a single author (unlike a wiki). Please note, this article addresses the three types of classically accepted Irony, as well as two modern definitions. This is a long article—4 pages. Try not to get distracted by the related links until you have finished the entire piece! http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/ironyobserve.htm

ASSIGNMENT:

Please come up with one example of each of the three classic types of irony which you can explain to your group in conversation—without having to read from notes or get to your laptop to explain. I want you to be facile in your understanding! You may use—and I hope you will--personal examples, examples from the lyrics of songs (think, and consider: Alanis Morissette’s song, Ironic http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/ironic.html), or from popular culture, like graphic novels, cartoons, or films.

Please do a Writer’s Log about this experience, and your thoughts on Irony. Jot down some notes for your example for each of the three types of irony. REMEMBER!: you are trying to come up with meaningful examples, which you can sing about (convey) to your group-mates.