Thursday 3 April 2014

Shakespeare's oxymoron

Combining two usually contradictory terms in a compressed paradox is termed as oxymoron. e.g. bittersweet, living death. The Milton's 'darkness visible is a classical example. But, Shakespeare's Romeo utters several in a single speech:-

Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
O anything of nothing first create;
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!

Are you still doubting, why his trance on the English readers still goes unabated, and his writings is termed timeless?

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