Question

The poet has juxtaposed sets of opposites like numbness pains, waking dream. How does this contribute to the poetic effect? What is this figure of speech called? List other such pairs from poems that you have read.

Answer 1

The opposites create a sense of conflict and uncertainty: the speaker feels both numb and pained, and cannot tell whether he is awake or dreaming. Placing contradictory words together is an oxymoron; a broader contradiction in meaning may also be called a paradox. Other examples include “sweet sorrow” in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and “darkness visible” in Milton’s Paradise Lost.