The ironic sonnet
No one ever expects that their assigned reading might bring them religious enlightenment, but that's exactly what happens to Stoner. The act of finding beauty in literature was the same as finding meaning in life, for Stoner, but without ever having to slow down and analyze the meaning of a poem, for instance, he didn't even know how thirsty he was for serious, beautiful, languishing art like a Shakespearean sonnet. When he is assigned a Shakespearean sonnet, nothing in the whole world sounds less fun to him than reading a poem, but as soon as he actually tries connecting with it emotionally, it's as if he has met a ghost or something. He quits his degree and switches to literature, and his entire life becomes about reading and learning.
The ironic cycle of abuse
The cycle of abuse is ironically depicted in the novel because Stoner's choice to marry a woman who reminded him of his childhood (which was bleak and neglectful) meant that his daughter would have to be abused too. On accident, he kept the cycle going, because the damage done to him in his childhood was too overwhelming for him to walk away from entirely. The reader is left with a picture of several generations of abuse in the home from a hateful parent, although Stoner isn't really the main problem in the home; Edith is.
The ironic anti-wife
Edith is certainly an ironic character, because her personality is the exact opposite of what one would think, just by knowing that she is Stoner's wife. Because she is his wife, the reader is expecting a love story of some kind, but there is no love story. Edith doesn't even really like Stoner, and she isn't curious about him or his imagination. She doesn't encourage him or help him in any way. She isn't emotionally available. Basically, her whole thing was that she wanted to be a loner, but she knew she needed a husband for other reasons, so she accepted Stoner and then played the victim through the whole marriage. This is ironic, because she is responsible to love him, but she only hates him, and she hates him the whole time.
The irony of death
Death is presented ironically by this novel in two ways. First there is the anachronism of the opening. By beginning the novel with the end of the plot, the author depicts life as a cycle that begins and ends in the same place. Then there is the actual value of Stoner's death: After a long, hard life, death comes to him with grace. He dies at peace, having created the single piece of art he was destined to accomplish.
The irony of success
Throughout the novel, Stoner seeks to understand the true meaning of his human experience, and he uses literature as a reference point for that journey, finding aspects of novels that he identifies with. In the end of his life, his success is defined by nothing but this one accomplishment—he found the beauty of his life's story and captured it in a single novel. He is not rich or famous, but he is truly successful.
