Antithesis, Irony, Paradox
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Antithesis/ænˈtɪθəsɪs/ | A direct opposition; irony is a gap between expectation and event; paradox is a contradiction that reveals. |
| irony/ˈaɪrəni/ | A gap between what is said or expected and what is meant or happens. |
| paradox/ˈpærədɒks/ | paradox |
Three things a contrast can become
- This subtopic names three specific results of contrast, and they are not interchangeable.
- Antithesis 对立 is a direct opposition; irony 反讽 is a gap between expectation and event; paradox 悖论 is a contradiction that reveals.
- Naming the right one is the analysis; calling all three "contrast" is not.
Do not call every surprising line “irony”; antithesis and paradox are waiting to complain.
Any two things placed side by side form an antithesis.
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An antithesis is a direct opposition, not merely a difference.
Juxtaposition can create antithesis
- Juxtaposition may create or demonstrate an antithesis.
- An antithesis is a direct opposition — two things set against each other as opposites, not merely as different.
- So a juxtaposition of a wedding and a funeral may be an antithesis; a wedding and a market is only a juxtaposition.
Distinguish antithesis, irony and apparent paradox through actual wording and context.
Select all the sources of expectation irony can violate, per the CED.
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Saying which one is violated lifts an answer above naming the device.
Two kinds of irony, one definition
- Situational or verbal irony is created when events or statements in a text are inconsistent with either the expectations readers bring to a text or the expectations established by the text itself.
- So the CED gives irony two possible sources of expectation: the reader's and the text's own.
- Say which one this irony violates — that alone lifts an answer above naming the device.
Antithesis, irony, or paradox?
Sort each case by the CED's three results of contrast.
The job of a paradox is to...
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And the contradiction may or may not be reconciled.
A paradox's contradiction may or may not be reconciled — and resolving it is not the task. The CED says its job is to reveal a hidden or unexpected idea, so an analysis that tidies the contradiction away has removed the very thing the device was doing.
An analysis of a paradox must name the hidden idea it ____.
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Resolved or not — resolving it is not the task.
Paradox reveals
- Paradox occurs when seemingly contradictory elements are juxtaposed, but the contradiction — which may or may not be reconciled — can reveal a hidden or unexpected idea.
- Two things to carry away: the contradiction need not be resolved, and its job is to reveal.
- So an analysis of a paradox must name the hidden idea it uncovers, resolved or not.
Match each type to the question that identifies it.
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Three questions, and each produces a different sentence of analysis.
A contrast-type pass
- Is this a direct opposition? Then antithesis — name both poles.
- Is it a gap between what was expected and what happened? Then irony — name whose expectation.
- Is it a contradiction that uncovers something? Then paradox — name the hidden idea.
The house was never so full as after they left. The contradiction is not reconciled and does not need to be: it reveals that the speaker's sense of the house was made of absence all along — a hidden idea the poem never states directly.
Juxtaposition may create an antithesis — a direct opposition. Irony arises when events or statements are inconsistent with the reader's expectations or the text's own; say which. Paradox juxtaposes seemingly contradictory elements to reveal a hidden or unexpected idea, reconciled or not.