Structural Irony

Definition. Irony built into the frame of a work rather than any single line — a sustained double meaning carried by a naive narrator, an unreliable voice, or the artifact’s own construction.

Mechanism. The expectation is set by the surface register (a calm economist, an earnest diarist, a helpful README); the reversal runs continuously underneath, and the reader is recruited as co-conspirator against the text’s own voice. Romantic irony — the author stepping through the artifice to wink at its construction — is the self-aware branch.

Commonly confused with. Simple satire. Satire can shout; structural irony must never break character. The moment the mask slips, the form collapses into editorial.

Exemplars

• A Modest Proposal — the reasonable monster, sustained for every page
• The Founding Prompt — an encyclopedia founded by a chat message
• The Unfeeling Curator — this vault’s own frame, examined