The Old News About the Oxymoron

The Old News About the Oxymoron The Old News About the Oxymoron The Old News About the Oxymoron By Mark Nichol Oxymoron, a Greek term combining the words for â€Å"sharp† and â€Å"foolish,† has been adopted in English to refer to inadvertently contradictory or incongruous mash-ups of terms such as â€Å"military intelligence† and â€Å"jumbo shrimp† a class known as subjective oxymora (that latter word is the pedantic-looking plural) because they are not literally at odds with each other. However, the original connotation is of an evocative paradox deliberately framed by a writer an objective oxymoron. One of the most well-known examples is William Shakespeare’s line â€Å"Parting is such sweet sorrow,† from Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet exults in the bittersweet anguish generated by the lovers’ separation. Shakespeare provided a short list of literary oxymora in this earlier passage from the same speech: â€Å"O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!† The Bard employed oxymora on other occasions, including in Hamlet (â€Å"I must be cruel, only to be kind†), in Julius Caesar (â€Å"fearful bravery†), and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (â€Å"A tedious brief scene . . . very tragical mirth†). Likewise, John Donne wrote of â€Å"beggarly riches,† Herman Melville of â€Å"a careful disorderliness,† John Milton of â€Å"darkness visible,† and Alexander Pope of a â€Å"bookful blockhead,† and Lord Tennyson ventured of his Lancelot that â€Å"faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.† Classic authors do not have a monopoly on oxymora, though; contemporary coinages are often more than subjective punch lines like â€Å"responsible government.† Here are some other recent examples that might inspire you to convey original ideas in phrases that are more than the sum of their parts: alone together: said, perhaps, of two people that share a physical space but are emotionally isolated from each other cheerful pessimism: a description of a person who blithely notices and remarks on the dark cloud behind every silver lining eloquent silence: a lack of response from someone that nevertheless clearly conveys that person’s attitude hellish paradise: an environment designed to make inhabitants or visitors feel bliss but is, to the more perceptive among them, unnerving in its illusory promise sad smile: a mild expression of superficial cheer that does not mask melancholy or sorrow sublimely awful: a reference to something that is so bad, it arouses ironic delight wise fool: a person of supposed mental weakness more shrewd than he or she seems at first Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†75 Idioms and Expressions That Include â€Å"Break†50 Synonyms for "Song"