Literary Devices: The 3 Types of Irony

M.L. Bull
Jun 11
3 min read

As I mentioned in my previous blogpost, there's three main different types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. All three of these types of irony can be used creatively within writing to either add clever wit, create suspense, or add a little humor in stories. Let's quickly go over all of these below and see how they differ from one another and how to use them.🔍

Two female actresses on stage in a play.

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 16 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, Literary Devices: The 3 Types of Irony or continue reading the blog post below.

THE 3 TYPES OF IRONY

Irony is a clever literary device that can put a spin on a story and create plot twists that your readers don't see coming their way. It's not a writing technique that is commonly used as often as many renown authors of classic American Literature did in the past during the earlier periods of literature, but I think it's one that modern writers should include in their creative toolbox to enhance their writing, as it's an easy way to catch readers' attention. Irony is present in both written stories, stage plays, and even sitcoms.

The following are the three types of irony:

VERBAL IRONY
SITUATIONAL IRONY
DRAMATIC IRONY

Now, let's quickly breeze through each of these.

VERBAL IRONY

This first type of irony is pretty self-explanatory and used within character dialogue in which a character says something different from its literal meaning or says one thing but he or she means the complete opposite. Verbal irony can range for a number of different things, such as witty jokes, exaggerated statements, sarcastic comments, or remarks of a turn of events.

E.: The mother sighed at her son's paper. "How nice! Another D minus on your math test."

In the following example, the mother isn't happy about her son's D minus, but she's speaking in a sarcastic manner.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

This second type of irony is when the unexpected happens in a play or story and is a great writing technique to use for mysteries and thriller genre books, as it's solely based on what's least expected to happen in a scenario or situation. Some examples of this irony could be an ex-convict who saves the life of a kidnapped little girl, or the tortoise in the children's story, "The Tortoise and the Hare," that moves slowly but still ends up winning the race.

DRAMATIC IRONY

This last type of irony is when the reader or audience knows something that the characters do not. This type is often used in stage plays and sometimes in TV sitcoms and can be quite entertaining and create suspense. It's a good device to use in comedies and funny scenes. Two examples of dramatic irony are the ending of the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell after the two lead female characters, (Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) solve the murder case before the men and keep their friend Mrs. Wright's cover by hiding the dead bird, and the classic skit of Abbott and Costello, "Two Tens for a Five."

CLOSING REMARKS:

Red cinema chairs near a lit up stairway.

Irony can be a skillful tool for writers to use in their writing; and most specifically, the three different types of irony, which can engross your readers in your stories or even add humor and give them a good laugh. Therefore, become inspired to use your creativity and consider including a mix of them in your short stories or books while working on your writing projects. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my writing channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. Okay, that ends this post. If you found it helpful, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, what is your favorite of the three types of irony?