Is this an oxymoron, and what would be the purpose of making seemingly illogical statements in writing? [closed]
Closed by System on Jan 29, 2019 at 19:18
This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.
Here's a piece of writing I came up with:
The rolling billows rocked the mighty galleon
cradling it madly as if it were but a mere child.
There are many seeming contradictions: When we think "billows rocked" we think of a powerful motion, "cradling" goes against that, and then "madly" goes against cradling and finally "as if it were but a mere child" goes completely against the idea of a powerful "rolling billow"?
Is this just really bad style? It seems to have a poetic effect. Is there a way to leverage such inconsistencies to deliberately create this effect? And can it be used in novels, or only in poetry?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/41580. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
I don't think it's an oxymoron. Sure thing, you have chosen a strange mix of images to evoke - mainly due to the contrast between "cradling" and "rocked".
But as far as I read it, it's a legitimate metaphor: the ship in this case is not bigger than a child in a cradle compared to the storm outside. The juxtaposion of the single elements may seem oxymoronic at first, but at large the "ship as a cradle" idea is not unheard of. It's not even so illogical, it just requires a little stretch of imagination.
Is this just really bad style? It seems to have a poetic effect. Is there a way to leverage such inconsistencies to deliberately create this effect? And can it be used in novels, or only in poetry?
I don't think it is, but then again it's opinions. You are already leveraging the effect of the metaphor and contrasting images. And yes, it could.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads