Encyclopedia

antithesis

antithesis (ăntith'isis) [key], a figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. Parallelism of expression serves to emphasize opposition of ideas. The familiar phrase “Man proposes, God disposes” is an example of antithesis, as is John Dryden's description in “The Hind and the Panther”: “Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell.”

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on antithesis from Fact Monster:

  • Glossary of Poetry Terms - Glossary of Poetry Terms accent The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word ...
  • Glossary of Poetry Terms - Glossary of Poetry Terms accent The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word ...
  • figure of speech - figure of speech figure of speech, intentional departure from straight-forward, literal use of ...
  • Jean de Sponde - Sponde, Jean de Sponde, Jean de , 1557–95, French poet and humanist. He held various posts in ...
  • prose - prose prose [Lat. prosa oratio=straightforward, or direct, speech], meaningful and grammatical ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Literature: General
© 2000–2008 Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster