Question

which line in the stanza is an example of verbal irony?

\and everybody praised the duke\

\quoth little peterkin.\

\who this great fight did win.\

\why that i cannot tell, said he;\

Explanation:

Verbal irony involves saying something that contrasts with the intended meaning or reality. "Who this great fight did win" (from a context like "The Battle of Blenheim" where the fight was actually destructive and not truly "great" in a positive sense) uses irony as the description of the fight as "great" is ironic given its devastating nature. The other options are statements without such ironic contrast: the first is praise (not ironic in isolation), the second is a speech tag, and the last is a statement of ignorance.

Answer:

C. "Who this great fight did win."