Mrs. Dowling's Literature Terms

Study Guide

At the end of this unit you will be able to:

• identify irony in stories and poetry

Irony is a literary device which presents a conflict between appearance and reality; may be intentional or unintentional on the part of a character, but always intentional on the part of the author.

Romeo and Juliet has a classic example of dramatic irony... The audience knows that Juliet only drank a sleeping potion and is not dead. This knowledge makes Romeo's suicide over the sleeping Juliet all the more bitter.