It is my belief that writers like to play around with words, especially when trying to polish a gem of a phrase to make it glow. Or developing the title for a new book. I find pleasure in trying to come up with terms that are not generally associated with each other and might even be contradictory, because an oxymoron, like a poem, is trying to be expressive of the essence. But, perhaps, I'm just a “wise fool” or a “foolhardy sage”.
I like the way an oxymoron can capture conflicting concepts succulently, for instance, “falsely true” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson) can sum up the idea of someone speaking their truth, even when the evidence says otherwise. Whereas, a “demonic angel” describes Lucifer by encompassing the competing aspects of good and evil. A “deafening silence” can say it all....
There are lots of phrases that have entered the English language that are so common that people immediately have an image in their head. When I hear the term “hapless hero” I think of the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth and Rowan Atkinson's army captain charging into the fog. I do not think of Mr Bean (another Atkinson character) as his style is more slap-stick. Other examples are used so often that people no long recognise the contradiction, such as “open secret”, “old news”, “a definite maybe” and “organised chaos”.
An oxymoron can be used to create drama, complexity or irony. Shakespeare was fond of an oxymoron and his phrases are still used today, in particular “sweet sorrow”, (Romeo and Juliet) and “an honourable villain” (Twelfth Night). Movie makers also like to use them in film titles to provoke interest, I'm thinking of “Back to the Future”, “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Dead Man Walking” to name a few.
The thing about an oxymoron is that also needs to be feasible, otherwise, it just doesn't work without lots of context being added, which rather defeats the point. One of my favourites is W.B. Yeats's “terrible beauty”. I see the witch, Circe, as depicted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse, as she turns men into swine. The appeal lies in there being two different qualities at once.
My poem “So Silent” uses an oxymoron or several to describe the moments before snow begins to fall. I believe that there are five, but I'm happy to be corrected – just let me know by leaving a comment.
SO SILENT The moon shone darkly across the landscape, Nothing was stirring, even the clouds rushed motionless across the sky. A fox barked and was answered by the beating of an owl's wings and the noiseless clatter of claws. It was burning cold in the heat of the night, A few leaves spiralled downwards, rising fleetingly, caught by a drifting eddy of wind The giant oaks were whispering silently to each other, whilst the silver birches trembled softly. Then heavy snowflakes danced earthwards.