by Kelly Keene

I love to think about paradoxes, and collect oxymorons on a list in my phone. We get to consider the power of the paradox when we read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with the 12th graders, and I like to point out how oxymoronic language can often que readers into complex texts with paradoxical tendencies.

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

When we read lines like, “Mrs. Bennet was restored to her usual querulous serenity” we see inklings of not only oxymorons, but also humor balancing on the subtle fulcrum of contradiction.

In response to our Paradox discussion, students were asked to write short stories using oxymorons, or craft poetry unpacking a paradox that they feel or observe acutely. I’ve attached my attempts here as samples.

Paradox
By Kelly Keene

We planned for the emergency the pretty ugly man child might create. It was a known secret that this studpid genius was simply complicated enough to create chaos. As we convened alone, in our cubicles a deafening silence took hold. Icy hot sweat dripped down the back of our faces, escalating down our spines. It was a true falsity that crash landed us here. Rather than problem solve, we drowned our emerging feelings in an excess of jumbo shrimp.