The antithesis It is a rhetorical figure that intends to express an opposition between two terms or concepts. Its objective is to highlight an idea by mentioning its contrast. For example: Love is so short, and oblivion is so long (Pablo Neruda).
The term is of Greek origin and is formed with the prefix anti-which means “contrary” or “opposite”, and thesiswhich means “opinion” or “position”.
This rhetorical figure is widely used in poetry, but it can also be found in philosophy or other fields of human knowledge to establish oppositional relationships between points of view, propositions, judgments, ideas or theses.
On the other hand, the antithesis can also be found in everyday speech, since it is a very productive resource. For example: What a misfortune to find you.
The fact of relating two concepts that are opposed to each other links the antithesis with other rhetorical figures such as the oxymoron and the paradox, with which it should not be confused.
Examples of antithesis
- “Love is so short, and forgetting is so long.” (Pablo Neruda)
- “When I want to cry, I don’t cry / and sometimes I cry without wanting to”. (Ruben Dario)
- “This love deeper than the sea can reach the sky and continue.” (Ricardo Montaner).
- “You are like the rose of Alexandria, which opens at night and closes during the day.” (Anonymous)
- Great people are recognized in small details.
- “Boys go by land / and girls by air.” (Juan Agustin Goytisolo)
- You have to look at the rose for its beauty and its thorns too.
- “We no longer have anything to look for; The heart is fed up, the world is empty. (Novalis)
- The more the penalty grows, the more the heart shrinks.
- “I try to forget you and without wanting to, I remember you.” (Armando Castillo)
- The man came from hell and appeared in heaven.
- “Give me freedom or give me death.” (Patrick Henry)
- “Among thorns / fine roses are usually born / and beautiful flowers between thistles, / and in pots of farmers / fragrant carnations.” (Christopher of Castillejo)
- Sometimes she cries with joy, sometimes she laughs with pain.
- “I watch when you sleep; I cry when you sing; I faint from fasting when you are lazy and discouraged from sheer fed up.” (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
- “It was a dream yesterday, tomorrow it will be land: / shortly before nothing, and shortly after smoke” (Francisco de Quevedo)
- Death is so easy, and life is so difficult.
- “My trappings are weapons, / my rest, fighting / my bed, the hard rocks / my sleep, always watch.” (Anonymous)
- The faster you run, the slower you’ll get.
- “A soft answer appeases anger, but a harsh word makes fury rise.” (Proverb)
- The rain wets the street but dries my soul.
- Before the vice of asking, there is the virtue of not giving.
- “The higher I reached / from this lance so raised, / the lower and surrendered / and dejected I found myself” (San Juan de la Cruz)
- You must choose between living a slave or dying free.
- “We suffer too much for the little that we lack and we enjoy little for the much that we have.” (William Shakespeare)
- His strength is his greatest weakness.
- “The boys go by the shore / and the girls by the water.” (John Goytisolo)
- “I don’t even know when it is day / nor when the nights are, / but because of a little bird / that sang to me at dawn.” (Anonymous).
- The hate you feel for her is a product of the love you feel for him.
- “Fire is the water, the heavy zephyr, / serpents the flowers, sandy the meadow.” (Lope de Vega)
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