Irony: Irony is an indirect way of criticizing things, and it can be done in several ways. The word ‘Irony’ comes from its Greek root ‘Eiron’, a dramatic character who spoke in ‘understatement’, pretending to be less intelligent, and meaning usually the opposite of what he said. This root sense is still present in modern criticism in which irony means a gap between some kind of appearance and reality. The gap between speech and its actual meaning, purpose and result, expectation and fate, are all ironies. In poetry, irony is mainly verbal irony of saying something and meaning something quite different. Irony is the opposite of metaphor in many ways.
       If metaphor is a matter of comparison, parallels, harmony, and creative and rich use of language, irony is a matter of contrast, disharmony and critical and satiric use of language. Irony exists to expose some kind of lack, absurdity or incongruity of human nature, ideas, or language itself. If metaphor draws comparison between apparently different things, irony exposes gaps and differences between apparently similar things.
      The simplest form of irony is the negation of similarity where similarity is expected, as in Shakespeare's poem "My Mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun." Instead of saying “My mistress is very, very beautiful”, the poet says that she is not. This seeming disparagement (opposite of ‘praise') later on turns out to be directed at other poets and not at his own beloved. Understatement of this kind and (sometimes) overstatement are the two basic tricks of creating irony.
      For example, a simple list like, "Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux" describing a make-up table can bitterly satirize the confusion of values of different things in life (Pope: The Rape of the Lock). Sometimes, putting very different things together, as in "Whether the ‘girl’ will break Diana's law (of virginity)/ Or some frail (weak) China jar will receive a flaw (injury)" is too bitter an irony. By putting together (with the same word "break") and pretending not to understand the relative value of virginity and a jar the poet implies that the young girls of that time would take equally seriously whether they break virginity or a clay jar! At other times, the poet may speak in too big words to be ironical, as in: "From silver spouts the grateful liquors (coffee) glide/ While China's earth (cups) receive the smoking tide". Here the British queen and her companions are pouring coffee into cups, and not lifting the ocean tides and pouring over China, as the poet exaggeratingly suggests.
       In order to interpret irony successfully, the reader must be able to pick up clues of some incongruity from the tone, word-choice, metaphor or speech and situation. Sometimes, even metaphors have an ironic dimension. A tactful reader should be able to go beyond paraphrase to the poet's intention by properly analyzing the word-game to understand the ironic meanings.

Allegory: Allegory is a parallel story. If a single word or expression has an abstract and general meaning, it is called a symbol; but if the whole ‘story’ of a drama, story or poem has a symbolic meaning throughout, it is called an allegory. Read More...

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds. The repeated consonants normally occur at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Read More...

Allusion: An allusion in a literary text is a reference to a personal place or event or to another literary work or passage. It does not have clear identification, that is, it does not tell directly what it stands for. Read More...

Animation: Animation is giving life to non-living objects. If a poet treats a lifeless concrete thing as having life, awareness, will-power, thought, emotion, etc, that is called animation. For example, if a poet says, "The moon is ‘smiling’ at me", he animates the moon. Read More...

Ballad:originally a kind of folk song; also sung with music; now recorded in writing, and also regarded as literature/ poetry. Read More...

Blank verse: Blank verse refers to the poetic lines that use iambic pentameter without rhyming. Read More...

Classical Poetry:The classical or neo-classical poets of the eighteenth century had had made poetry more social than personal, more intellectual than emotional and imaginative, more rule-based than spontaneous. Read More...

Conceit: The conceit is a striking metaphor. It is so original and unconventional that it not only strikes the reader into attention, but sometimes shocks them, being even objectionable or absurd at first. Read More...

Elegy: The elegy was originally the form of poetry on the subject of sadness, especially ‘complaints about love’. Read More...

Epic: One the oldest of the poetic forms, the epic is a long narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style, dealing with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Read More...

Iambic pentameter: Iambic pentameter means ‘five iambic feet in a line’. ‘Iambic’ means a unit of rhythm with two syllables where the first is not stressed (U) and the second is stressed (S). Read More...

Ode:Most simply, the Ode is known as a poem addressed to somebody or something. But, besides that one simple feature, the ode is characterized by a number of features of a special classical form of poetry, or poetic expression. Read More...