"What is Understatement?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

What does the literary term "understatement" mean? What are some examples of understatement? Professor Lily Sheehan answers these questions using Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. The short video is designed to help high school and college English students to not only identify understatement but also to analyze its structure and purpose.

This video now contains Spanish as well as English subtitles. To switch between languages, please click on the "settings" button in the video.

The video is sponsored by the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University. For more discussions of literary terms and essay writing tips, please subscribe to the free SWLF YouTube Channel or visit https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/oregon-state-guide-english-literary-terms

In the comments section, please feel free to add your favorite examples of understatement! Liking, sharing, and commenting on our videos will help us to build a rich digital learning environment around these topics.

Below are a few more videos in our series. Check them out, and let us know what you thought of them!
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