OXYMORON WORKSHEET

DIRECTIONS: Identify the example of an oxymoron by underlining it. In the space on the right, discuss the meaning of the word.Definition:Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two terms appear to contradict each other. Some examples have become so familiar that we hardly notice the contradiction, eg deafening silence. The word comes from the Greek: oxus ('sharp') and mōros ('foolish').

'Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there

He wasn't there again today

Oh, how I wish he'd go away'

[William Hughes Mearns; 1899]

'One fine day in the middle of the night

Two dead men got up to fight

Back to back they faced each other

Drew their swords and shot each other '

[anonymous]

'O brawling love, O loving hate,

O any thing of nothing first create!

O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!,

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,

Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!'

[Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; circa 1591-5]

Source: www.lcvt.tec.pa.us/.../lib/.../OXYMORON_WORKSHEET.doc