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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 legitima...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T11:56:49Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41599 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T10:41:26Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41599 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
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.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-01-25T13:57:27Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 3