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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Key Examples in The Odyssey
Book 1
Explanation and Analysis—Athena's Prophecy:
In a speech saturated with dramatic and verbal irony, Athena, a powerful goddess, disguises herself as an old man and tells Telemachus that "the immortal gods" have "planted" a vision of the future in her mind:
And now I’ve come—and why? I heard that he was back . . .
your father, that is. But no, the gods thwart his passage.
Yet I tell you great Odysseus is not dead [...]
Wait,
I’ll make you a prophecy, one the immortal gods
have planted in my mind—it will come true, I think,
though I am hardly a seer or know the flights of birds.
He won’t be gone long from the native land he loves,
not even if iron shackles bind your father down.
He’s plotting a way to journey home at last;
he’s never at a loss.
Related Themes:
