Antithesis

By antithesis we mean the setting of one object or thought over against another. It is the opposite of the simile or metaphor, for it affirms difference instead of similarity. Another name for the figure is contrast.

Exercise

In the following quotations find examples of antithesis, or contrast:

"Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull."

"But the gladiators' bloody circus stands, A noble wreck in ruinous perfection,

While Cxsar's chambers, and the Augustan halls,

Grovel on earth in indistinct decay."

"0 Woman ! in our hours of ease,

Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, And variable as the shade

By the light quivering aspen made ; When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou !—"

"Vice is a monster of such frightful mien That to be hated needs but to be seen, But seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

"My castles are my king's alone, From turret to foundation stone — The hand of Douglas is his own."

"On Linden, when the sun was low, All bloodless lay th' untrodden snow, And dark as winter was the flow Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

But Linden saw another sight, When the drum beat, at dead of night, Commanding fires of death to light The darkness of her scenery."