Which sentence in this excerpt from Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" best exhibits the use of verbal irony?

A.Before, I had never experienced aught but a not unpleasing sadness.

B.Upon inspection, the drawer exhibited a great array of the shells of various sorts of nuts. Indeed, to this quick-witted youth, the whole noble science of the law was contained in a nutshell.

C.So he sent him to my office, as student at law, errand boy, cleaner and sweeper, at the rate of one dollar a week.

D.For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me.

Question

Which sentence in this excerpt from Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" best exhibits the use of verbal irony?

A.Before, I had never experienced aught but a not unpleasing sadness.

B.Upon inspection, the drawer exhibited a great array of the shells of various sorts of nuts. Indeed, to this quick-witted youth, the whole noble science of the law was contained in a nutshell.

C.So he sent him to my office, as student at law, errand boy, cleaner and sweeper, at the rate of one dollar a week.

D.For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me.

katnisssullen · Answer

The answer is A. He's basically saying that he's never experienced anything but a troubling sadness, because that's the only thing that sadness can be. That's the verbally ironic part about it.