Question

select the verbal irony in the passage. nowadays it is a duty for a poor peasant to be a soldier. another reason to be proud, this being a citizen! for the poor, it consists in sustaining and preserving the wealthy in their power and their laziness. the poor must work for this. this revolution was made by fools and idiots for the benefit of those who acquired national lands, and resulted in nothing but making fortune of crafty peasants and bourgeois. the revolution only made stronger, under the pretense of making all men equal, the empire of wealth. it has betrayed france into the hands of the men of wealth. adapted from anatole france, the red lily

Explanation:

Verbal irony occurs when words express something contrary to truth or someone's actions belie their words. In the passage, it is ironic that it's a duty for a poor peasant to be a soldier while the wealthy, who have the power and are lazy, benefit from the situation. The revolution was supposed to help the poor but instead favored the crafty who acquired national lands and made the poor work for the wealth - all under the pretense of equality.

Answer:

The irony lies in the situation where the poor are burdened with duties like being soldiers while the wealthy and lazy benefit from the supposed revolutionary changes that were meant to bring equality but instead concentrated wealth in the hands of a few.