Antithesis - Literary Terms

Antithesis, Literary Terms

Antithesis - Literary Terms

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Antithesis:

1. A figure of speech in which opposing or contrasting

ideas are balanced against each other in grammatically parallel syntax, as in the following sentence from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller:

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

2. In reasoning by means of ARGUMENT, known as dialectic, the antithesis is the statement of the opposing viewpoint:

Thesis: The money should be spent on a new gymnasium large enough to host tournaments.

Antithesis: No, the money should be spent on an auditorium.

Synthesis: Let's build a new gymnasium and make the old gym into an auditorium.

See. EPIGRAM, OXYMORON.