Three Forms of Antithesis
Opposite or Contrasting Vocabulary
My only love sprung from my only hate
William Shakespeare (1597) Romeo and Juliet
“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
Abraham Lincoln (1863) Gettysburg Address
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
President John F Kennedy (1961) Inaugural Address
The examples above show how the contrasting vocabulary vividly points to an idea. Lincoln speaking about men who have fought in a war knows that he could be accused of not understanding what it was like for those who killed and saw death. He ordered troops to die in battle and although he had volunteered to fight in his youth, he had never experienced combat. He also didn’t give the Gettysburg address. A politician named Edward Everett spoke for two hours, using some of the finest rhetoric. He was the main speaker. Lincoln’s speech has become known as the Gettysburg Address because it was so much more effective. He said what needed to be said in very few words and his use of antithesis is an example of that. He didn’t hide from his lack of experience and the strangeness of listening to Everett speak for two hours after thousands had died. He draws direct attention to it by using an antithesis with the very simple, but astonishing ‘we say / they did’. The contrast of these four words is more powerful than any of the two hours of Everett’s speaking. Kennedy did the same thing with ‘many poor’ and ‘few rich’. Antithesis is a powerful tool when used in this way.
Repetition of sound patterns/vocabulary
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
Samuel Johnson (1759) The History of Rasselas
When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.
Oscar Wilde (1981) The Picture of Dorian Gray
Repetition of vocabulary and particularly of sound can make an antithesis sound flowery. This type of antithesis lacks the plain directness of the other types. Even though Wilde’s example above consists of very basic, every day vocabulary, the repetition of sound and word gives is almost song-like. Wilde’s example here sounds like a nursery rhyme.
The less repetition, the less song-like it will sound. Johnson’s use of this technique about is limited and so the light-hearted feeling is reduced. Unless you want to make your reader or listener to laugh, focus on limited repetition of sounds and words. However, even Johnson’s use sounds flowery so use this form of repetition carefully.
Repetition of Grammatical forms
Unlike short-sighted, egocentric humans, God “sees with equal eye” the fall of a hero and a sparrow, the destruction of an atom or a solar system.
Alexander Pope (1733) An Essay on Man
Society often forgives the criminal: it never forgives the dreamer
Repetition of grammar very obviously isolates the phrase or clause from the rest of the writing. Repetition of grammatical forms makes a piece of writing stand out. It sticks out from the page and in the mind. But it should stick out for a reason.