poetic device: Irony

Irony is when what you expect to happen doesn’t occur, but instead results in the opposite action or effect. For example, if someone were run over by an ambulance, or if you went to “Camp Sunshine” and it rained the whole week.

All of these poems have at least one example of irony each, usually at the end of the poem. See if you can figure out what is ironic in each of these poems.

Nimrod Nero, Superhero
I've Got a Secret by Kenn Nesbitt
I’ve Got a Secret
I Built a Castle on the Beach
There’s a Witch Outside My Window
I Made Myself a Sandwich
I Named My Dogs the Strangest Names by Kenn Nesbitt
I Named My Dogs the Strangest Names
What I Told Mrs. Morris when She Asked How I Was Feeling Today by Kenn Nesbitt
What I Told Mrs. Morris When She Asked How I Was Feeling Today
Mall Crawl
I Bought a Balloon
Gordon’s Garden
Toby the Snowboarding Doberman
My Brother Wants to Be a Chef by Kenn Nesbitt
My Brother Wants to Be a Chef
Wally Wards the Sword Swallower by Kenn Nesbitt
Wally Wards the Sword Swallower
I Have an Amoeba
Auntie Gravity
Belinda Brooks by Kenn Nesbitt
Belinda Brooks
The Tall Tale of Shorty Small by Kenn Nesbitt
The Tall Tale of Shorty Small
Back-to-School Shopping
Snail Race by Kenn Nesbitt
Snail Race
The Stockings Were Hung by Linda Knaus and Kenn Nesbitt
The Stockings Were Hung
How Not to Make a Cardboard Fort
The Cowtown Ballet by Kenn Nesbitt
The Cow Town Ballet
Bad Bertie Bartigan by Kenn Nesbitt
Bad Bertie Bartigan
Bradley Beard by Kenn Nesbitt
Bradley Beard is Rather Weird

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