Figures of Speech: Figures of Contrast


II. Figures of Contrast.

Figures of contrast are rhetorical devices used to create a sharp contrast or opposition between two ideas or concepts. They are employed to emphasize differences, highlight contradictions, or draw attention to contrasting elements. Here are some common figures of contrast:

1. (a) Education is to know something of everything, and everything of something.
(b) Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?
(c) To err is human, to forgive divine.

Antithesis (Gk. anti, against, and thesis, a placing) is the placing of one word or fact against another for the sake of contrast. Almost every word has its opposite e.g. true, false; black, white and by expressly mentioning it we emphasise the word itself. This figure of speech places two contrasting ideas or words side by side in a balanced or parallel structure. It creates a powerful contrast for emphasis. Antithesis also includes words which without being exact opposites have a certain contrast, or which partly define another by subtracting from it its excess of meaning e.g.

Butchered to make a Roman holiday.
He had his jest, and they had his estate.
The cup that cheers, but not inebriates.

A Form of Antithesis is the Balanced Sentence, in which the words to be contrasted are put in corresponding places in the sentence e.g.
 For example:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." (Charles Dickens)
"To err is human; to forgive divine." (Alexander Pope)
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing ;
there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great
riches.
The Highest Good is the greatest happiness of the
greatest number.
Might is right.

Note. When the contrasted words are put not in parallel but in reverse order the antithesis is called chiasmus (Gk. chiazo, I mark diagonally) e.g.

With joy they heard the summons to arms, but
The order for peace was listened to with sullen looks.

2. The child is father to the man.
Great wits are, sure, to madness near allied.
We cannot see the wood for the trees.

An Epigram (Gk. epi, on, gramma, letter, or writing) is a pointed saying, whose apparent contradiction emphasis sits real meaning. An Epigram originally meant an inscription on a monument, then a short witty poem, and lastly a pointed saying. It consists in leading one to expect a certain conclusion, and then surprising him by something quite different. It may be regarded as an unexpected antithesis.

Forms of the Epigram are the (1) Seemingly Identical Assertion,
(2) Seeming Irrelevance, (3) Parody, and (4) Pun.

(1) What I have written, I have written.
There are business men, and business men,
(2) Where the snow falls, there is freedom.
(3) The survival of the unfit test.
(4) The parson told the sexton,
And the sexton tolled the bell.
Is life worth living? That depends on the liver.

The most important is Pun.


The Pun, or Paronomasia (Gk. para, beside, onoma, a name orword) is the play upon words carried to an excess. In the true pun there is no connection of meaning between the two uses of the word. It teaches nothing, and illustrates nothing, and is a mere exercise of ingenuity used chiefly by comic writers. Pun: A play on words that uses the similarity in sound between two words with distinctly different meanings. For example, the title of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest is a pun on the word earnest, which means serious or sober, and the name “Ernest.”
Sometimes the pun is almost an epigram e.g.

Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
The Russian grandees came to Elizabeth's court, dropping pearls and vermin.
Brutus instituted liberty and the consulship.
Some killed partridges, others time only.
The moment and the vessel passed.
The Condensed Sentence is an abbreviated sentence in which ideas are brought together under one construction instead of being separated, though their unlike causes a feeling of incongruity.

3. Oxymoron: It combines two contradictory or opposite terms to create a condensed paradoxical statement. For example:

"Jumbo shrimp"
"Cruel kindness"

3. Paradox: A paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that reveals a deeper truth. It presents an unexpected or illogical situation. For example:

"I can resist anything except temptation." (Oscar Wilde)
"The beginning of the end."

4. Irony: Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of what is expected. It often involves a discrepancy between appearance and reality or a situation where the outcome is contrary to expectations. For example:

"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
"Isn't it ironic that the traffic jam cleared up just as I reached my destination?"

5. Juxtaposition: This figure of speech places two contrasting ideas or elements close together to highlight their differences. It can be used to create a dramatic effect or draw attention to the disparities. For example:

"It was the best of both worlds: the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the shade."
"The old and the new stood side by side, a stark contrast of tradition and progress."

These figures of contrast are powerful tools for writers and speakers to create impact, emphasize key points, and engage their audience by highlighting the differences between ideas, concepts, or situations.

Figure of Speech -Figures of Resemblance or Similarity

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