Lesson Plans

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read “Chapter Seven – Figurative Language 3,” pp. 749-758, in Perrine’s Literature. They should also have written out full responses to all nine Exercises starting at the bottom of p. 758 and finishing on p. 759.

Objectives: To recognize paradox, overstatement, understatement, irony, and satire – and the effects of each

Activities:

• A. Go over the Exercise on pp. 758-759. Read the questions from the book, using the following to guide your evaluation of the students’ responses. They need to offer explanations before you give them the correct answers.

  • 1. Paradox (“Poetry is a language that tells us, through a more or less emotional reaction, something that cannot be said.” – Edwin Arlington Robinson
  • 2. Irony (“Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded./That all the Apostles would have done as they did.” – Lord Byron)
  • 3. Overstatement (“A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket” – John Dennis)
  • 4. Understatement (Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse.” – Jonathon Swift
  • 5. Paradox (. . . Where ignorance is bliss,/’Tis folly to be wise.” – Thomas Gray
  • 6. Overstatement (All night I made my bed to swim; with my tears I dissolved my couch. “Psalms 6:6)
  • 7. Paradox (“immortal” is ironic) (Believe him, he has known the world too long/And seen the death of much immortal song.” – Alexander Pope)
  • 8. Paradox (Cowards di many times before their deaths;/The valiant never taste of death but once.” – William Shakespeare)
  • 9. Paradox (“. . . all men would be cowards if they durst.” – John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester) [Yes, you were expected to look up durst.]

• B. Have a volunteer read “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley on p.758. Then ask students the following questions. (I have provided responses in bold italics to guide your evaluation of their responses.)

  • 1. “[S]urvive] (7) is a transitive verb with “hand” and “heart” as direct objects. Whose hand? Whose heart? What figure of speech is exemplified in “hand” and “heart”?

    The “hand” is that of the sculptor. The “heart” is that of Ozymandias.

    “Hand” is a synecdoche: the sculptor’s hand is part of his artistic skill. (Part for whole.)

    “Heart” is a metonymy: it is the seat of Ozymandias’ pride, passions, arrogance, and tyranny. (Associated attribute)

  • 2. Characterize Ozymandias.

    He is arrogant and self-glorifying as the inscription in lines 11-12 make clear.

    He is tyrannical as the words “sneer of cold command” indicate.

    In the end, despite his confidence, he is defeated by time—a clear example of irony.

  • 3. Ozymandias was an ancient Egyptian tyrant. This poem was first published in 1817. Of what is Ozymandias a symbol? What contemporary reference might the poem have had in Shelley’s time?

    He is reduced to a symbol of overweening pride and the futility of earthly power.

    Considering the Shelley flourished in the early nineteenth century, he is probably intended to remind readers of Napoleon.

  • 4. What kind of irony does the poem exemplify?

    It is overall situational irony. The historical outcome of Ozymandias’ reputation is quite the opposite of what he imagined. However, the contrast between what the king believed and what the reader knows is dramatic irony.

• C. Have another volunteer read “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins on pp. 763-764 and then ask the students the following questions.

  • 1. This poem employs a particular kind of understatement called “euphemism,” the substitution of a less offensive or severe term for one that might give offense. In the fist line, the speaker explains why the teacher uses this device.

  • 2. What situational irony is revealed in lines 14-17? Considering lines 18-19, who is actually innocent in this poem?

    Despite his efforts to protect them from violence, the teacher’s approach actually results in the students’ becoming violent themselves. His euphemistic lessons have left his students morally uninformed.

    In reality such shielding from harsh truths—rather than making his students gentle and kind—prevents them from learning empathy and the consequences of cruelty; so, they become more cruel.

Assignment for next class meeting: No homework.