It comes from the Greek words oskús, meaning sharp or keen, and morōs meaning dull or foolish. Generally, the ideas will come as two separate words placed side by side. Instant PDF downloads.Refine any search. Even so, Pope uses oxymoron to emphasize that people who are well-read are not necessarily original thinkers. The contradiction contained within the oxymoron "scalding coolness" emphasizes the couple's conflicting emotions and impossible situation.The following lines refer to Lancelot, who is in love with Guinevere, King Arthur's wife. The word \"oxymoron\" is itself an oxymoron. The lyrics of this powerful piano ballad make use of several oxymorons.Below, we provide you with an extensive list of oxymorons. The sequence of oxymorons in this example (honour/dishonour, "faith unfaithful," "falsely true") emphasizes the contrast between Lancelot's "faithful" love for Guinevere, and the fact that his relationship with Guinevere makes them both unfaithful to Arthur.Some of the greatest truths lie in contradiction, and oxymoron is one of the best figures of speech for expressing contradiction. Teachers and parents! She is passionate about education, writing, and travel.Have any questions about this article or other topics? While some lines consist of contracting words that are placed beside one another, other examples show how oxymora may also be applied to a statement (such as “misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms”). LitCharts uses cookies to personalize our services. However, while it's possible to argue that "business ethics" isTo sum up, an oxymoron is not simply a contradiction in terms. For example, as we covered above, Shakespeare used oxymorons to describe strong, opposing emotions that often occur together, and also to show how the friction between those two feelings—love and hate, or love and pain, for example—can coexist and shape characters' experiences. There's a drama and simplicity to the "fair is foul" oxymoron, which becomes a refrain as the play goes on and characters begin to act according to the witches' moral code.On those relentlessly hot July afternoons, Ada liked to sit on a cool piano stool of ivoried wood at a white-oilcloth'd table in the sunny music room, her favorite botanical atlas open before her, and copy out in color on creamy paper some singular flower...Or else she combined one species with another (unrecorded but possible), introducing odd little changes and twists that seemed almost morbid in so young a girl so nakedly dressed.The "nakedly dressed" oxymoron immediately follows the description of Ada's drawings, in which she combines together unlikely species: just as oxymorons conjoin unlikely words and ideas. The following example is from Alexander Pope's poem, "Essay on Criticism":In this case, the oxymorons "bookful blockhead" and "learned lumber" add humor and spice to Pope's writing. LitCharts Teacher Editions. If this statement is indeed false as it says, then this would actually make it true. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
The contradiction contained in "nakedly dressed" echoes the impossibility of the hybrids Ada draws, and more importantly, it expresses both Van's feeling that he can see into her soul despite the clothes covering her body, his yearning for her such that her clothes only suggest to him her body beneath them, and at the same time (because it's an oxymoron and the words contradict) the impossibility of the siblings' relationship. 3. Shakespeare used a great many oxymorons in his plays. Read on to find out how oxymoron is distinct from each of these terms.Today, many people use the term "oxymoron" as a synonym for For example, someone might (wrongly) call the phrase "business ethics" an oxymoron, simply to make the claim that business is always unethical. Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. Generally, the ideas will come as two separate words placed side by side. But if the statement is true, then it can’t be false, despite the fact it claims to be!Now that we’ve gone over what an oxymoron is, let’s take a closer look at four famous oxymoron examples in sentences to better understand how this literary device actually works.In this scene, Juliet utters the phrase "sweet sorrow" to describe the feeling she has when having to say goodbye to Romeo. Teachers and parents! In this famous play, you can find several oxymoron examples. Feel free to look through this vast list of oxymoron examples if you’re in need of an oxymoron for something you're writing or if you simply want to learn some of the most common ones.Oxymorons are an excellent, thought-provoking tool to use in writing, but they're certainly not the only device you should work with.