The intent of the poets who wrote what we today call slave poetry is as varied as the content they address. Some of the poems transform slavery from a distant incident to a personal trial through a story telling approach while others teach the atrocities of slavery to the masses by simply laying out the facts in a colder manner thereby emphasizing those atrocities. Irony is another way some authors of slave poetry illustrate their points to their audience. Irony is a significant device used by the poets in the slavery poems "On Being Brought from Africa to America," "The Dying Fugitive," and "Middle Passage." .
"On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a piece from the celebrated African poetess Phillis Wheatley. Wheatley is known for writing poetry with a dominant influence of religious and moral themes. In this poem she uses a highly intelligent and scathing verbal irony. Although it is written in a deceptively mild manner one can catch the hints of Wheatley's sarcasm especially in the last lines of the poem where she says of the majority of whites of that time "Some view our sable race with scornful eye,/"Their colour is a diabolic die."/Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,/May be refin"d, and joined th" angelic train (lines 5-8). Here Wheatley is addressing the attitudes of the whites towards the African slaves and freedmen of that time. She mocks them by stressing that they are "Christians," even though we can see that they do not act in a kind or christianly manner, and then as a further snub tells them that Cain in the bible was black so, therefore, they are not far removed in relations to the very "Negros" that they scorn. She also tells them that though they may not believe it or want to aid them, the Africans can be cultured and more importantly saved through their acceptance of Christ. Wheatley uses verbal irony to point out the hypocrisy of the so called white Christians who judge and condemn the Africans without any thought of actually helping to better them.
The novel Oliver Twist comes from his early writings and it doesn't belong to his best works. ... Oliver Twist is a small orphan who runs away from the workhouse because of bad conditions. ... He shows his ironic attitude toward the New Poor Law. ... Charles Dickens in the first part describes the poor life of Oliver Twist. ... In this part he is very critical and ironic. ...
Oedipus Rex's Ironic Fate Sophocles" Oedipus Rex uses very twisted situations to make this play ironic. ... This puts an ironic twist on the play. ... It is ironic that he uses the metaphor that Oedipus is being blind to the situation around him. ... This happens to make the play more ironic. ...
Isn't it Ironic? ... Flaubert's portrayal of the ball and the event that follow shows the ironic contrast between Emma's experience and reality. ... The context of the fair provides ironic contrast to Rodolphe's seduction of Emma. ... The irony of Flaubert's characters also adds a bitter twist to the novel's tragic ending. ... The passage is ironic because Emma, and perhaps the reader, had not realized that her husband was capable of such feeling. ...
Edgar Allan Poe, the author behind the eerily vengeful short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," uses carefully constructed irony to solidify the intended deeper meaning to his somewhat twisted tale. ... This is dramatic irony because we the readers know that Fortunato is the victim of this story and that his naming being Fortunato is ironic, because his name means fortunate and in the story his character is the one killed. Besides the meaning of Fortunato's name, the clothing that Fortunato wears is ironic because the hat that he bears is the hat of a fool and in the story he becomes the f...
"The Story of An Hour" is full of ironic twists and situations. ... It seems as if there is some twist of fate involved in his death, while the actual outcome is hers. ... The story contains all sorts of ironic situations. ... It is an extremely short story, with a large amount of ironic situations condensed into it. ...
"The Story of An Hour" is full of ironic twists and situations. ... It seems as if there is some twist of fate involved in his death, while the actual outcome is hers. ... The story contains all sorts of ironic situations. ... It is an extremely short story, with a large amount of ironic situations condensed into it. ...
The palatial living quarters were twisted and unusual. ... In this story, the Prince, who feels he can escape death and throw a party receives an ironic ending. ... This irony shows some of the bizarre and twisted imagination of the gothic writers. ... The twist at the end shows how morbid and strange events were quite common in gothic literature. ... The rooms, each bizarre and psychically twisted, created a peculiar atmosphere. ...
A skilled poet can generate an infinite variety of emotional responses from the reader, depending upon whether he or she intends the general tone of the work to be happy, sad, comedic, or ironic. In particular, situational irony can be difficult to create unless the correct words are chosen to direct the reader to the intended ironic conclusion. ... Carl Holman tells the ironic story of the title character and his struggle to live in a racially biased society while trying to remain racially neutral in all aspects of his life. ... The ironic twist that he is dubbed "One of the most distingui...
Carl Holman tells the ironic story of a black man and his struggle in a hateful world where he is like ashamed of his face tries to deny everything about it.. ... The first ironic situation in the story his diet changed from pork, cornbread, yams and collards to vintage wines, sauces and salads. It is ironic because white southerners don't even eat and drink wines,sauces,and salads they eat cornbread, yams, and collards.The second situation is he disclaimed kinship with jazz and spituals. the ironic part about that white people embrace jazz more than blacks. ... The ironic twist that ...
