An Accurate Definition of Irony

[sniffdog]

Thanks PB, you're questions and examples really clarified my thinking on the subject a lot.

[Pompey Bum]

You're welcome. Thank you very much for such an intelligent conversation. I hope you stick around.

[sniffdog]

Thank you. I think I will. This has been great. I'm tweaking my definition yet again. I'm thinking about throwing the words expectation and outcome back into the stew. I was avoiding those words because I kept seeing irony defined as the outcome being the opposite of what is expected. Which, by itself does not capture the meaning of irony at all but I think maybe those words might make some contribution when supported by the rest of the definition. If I ad them back in, the definition reads: a subversive, contradictory or paradoxical relationship between desire, expectation, intention, expression or outcome. (Also change the final "and" to "or" because those five elements can be combined in different ways to create irony and don't all need to be present for their to be irony).

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, that is more comprehensive. Another aspect of irony is the parenthetical communication going on between reader and author behind at least one character's back (or sometimes behind the entire narrative's back). I think this is one of the things that makes irony such a powerful literary device. You may want to expand your scope and attempt an entire essay on irony to explore such implications.