Paradox and oxymoron are literary devices. \u00a0Identifying them can be worth marks on the English 12 government exam. \u00a0So, what are they?<\/p>\n
A paradox<\/strong> is a statement that poses two contradictory facts, yet somehow it’s all true. An example might be<\/p>\n He’s a very outgoing recluse.<\/em><\/p>\n If someone is outgoing, why would they live like a recluse? \u00a0Yet, so many people meet that description: \u00a0they love conversing with people, but rarely go out into the world. Glenn Gould, the famous Canadian pianist, was known to be so.<\/p>\n Another example:<\/p>\n She’s so late, she’s early.<\/em><\/p>\n Anyone who’s ridden buses that come an hour apart, but missed one, knows this situation.<\/p>\n An oxymoron<\/strong> is a seemingly opposite description that still makes sense. \u00a0An example:<\/p>\n Touching the ice, he felt the burning cold<\/em> in his hands.<\/p>\n Anyone who’s had a really cold hand knows that it can feel like it’s burning. \u00a0The body has a weak distinction between the two sensations in such a case, so that one can resemble the other.<\/p>\n One more oxymoron:<\/p>\n The proposal was met with deafening silence.<\/em><\/p>\n “Deafening” means “loud”, of course; yet, silence can be just as numbing as loud noise in some cases.<\/p>\n To wrap up: \u00a0a paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that somehow is still true. An oxymoron is a description that seems impossible because the adjective contradicts the essence of the noun – yet, intuitively, the description rings true.<\/p>\n Whichever impossibility you face or witness, might it be described as a paradox or with an oxymoron? \u00a0We all struggle daily with facts that seem incredible:)<\/p>\n