Antithesis | Definition & Examples in Literature

Antithesis can be defined as a literary device that features a close juxtaposition of ideas for either contrast or comparison, which usually occurs in a parallel construction. A famous example of antithesis in JFK's inaugural speech in 1961:

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Here JFK is taking the idea of one expecting to benefit from one’s country and turning upside down on its head. It is citizens who should be working toward the greater good of their country. The speech then emphasizes civic duty and an ethos of selflessness. 

The main effect of antithesis is to emphasize an idea by employing contrasts and contradictions. This can be done in an ironic way. This is the case here in Julius Caesar when Mark Antony gives a speech at Caesar's funeral: 

Julius Caesar, Act 3 Scene 2:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them,

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar.

Two instances of antithesis occur here, and they both rely heavily on irony. Antony is setting a trap for Brutus and the conspirators who murdered Caesar. He does so by using antithetical phrasing to show how nonsensical and counterintuitive it is to speak badly about a man at his funeral. This is a jab at Brutus who gave a speech before Antony to justify the murder of Caesar. 

The first example of antithesis compares bury and praise when Antony says he comes to bury Caesar, not praise him. The second antithesis takes the idea further by saying good deeds of men are buried with them, whereas their bad deeds live on after them. 

This is a mockery of Brutus’ earlier speech where he says that Caesar was murdered because he was ambitious. Ambitious here simply means that Caesar wanted to end the Roman Republic and become king. The antithesis here uses irony to show the mob the hypocrisy and immoral logic being used by Antony. 

In this article, I provide more examples of antithesis in literature. These include examples from Milton, Walt Whitman, and Lord Byron's famous poem, "The Destruction of Sennacherib."

The Defeat of Sennacherib by Peter Paul Reubens, 1612-1614.

Examples of antithesis

Here, we are now going to look at a few more examples of antithesis from literature. We will first begin with Lord Byron’s poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib” (published in 1815).

1. Byron, “The Destruction of Sennacherib” (1815): 

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen:

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

This poem is based on the Biblical account of the Assyrian King, Sennacherib as featured in 2 Kings 18–19. It tells the story of how Sennacerib with his vastly superior army conquered most of Judah and laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. His victory seemed certain before the Angel of Death defended Jerusalem by miraculously laying waste to the Assyrian army.

The first six lines introduce the might of the Assyrian army in its attack on Judah using picturesque imagery. The first four lines focus on the weapons and gear of the Assyrian army with descriptions that compare “the sheen of their spears” with “stars on the sea.” 

Lines 4–8 summarizes the antithesis by comparing the might and grandeur of the Assyrian empire with their eventual destruction. It does so by comparing the Assyrian army in the height of its glory to “leaves of the forest when Summer is green.” 

This is juxtaposed to the destruction of the army, which is described as “the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown.” The antithesis here works because like is being matched with like both in terms of imagery and parallel structure. 

Summer is compared to autumn. Also the sentences that make up the comparison both have the same structure, beginning with “Like the leaves of the forest . . .” The antithesis seeks to emphasize the speed and extent to which the Assyrian army was destroyed by the miraculous power of  God. 

2. Milton, Paradise Lost (1667):

The following is an extract from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. This is the chief of fallen angels — Lucifer himself — addressing his troops after being expelled by Heaven. He uses antithesis to mock the seemingly defeatist and relaxed attitude of his fallen angels after their defeat: 

He called so loud, that all the hollow Deep

Of Hell resounded. “Princes, Potentates,

Warriors, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can seize

Eternal spirits; or have ye chosen this place

After the toil of Battle to repose

Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find

To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heaven?

Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

To adore the Conqueror? who now beholds

Cherub and Seraph rowling in the Flood

With scattered Arms and Ensigns, till anon

His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern

The advantage, and descending tread us down

Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts

Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulf.

Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.” 

The speech is properly balanced using antithetical phrases. For example, “The flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost” captures quite well the awful defeat. However, the leader does not wish to dwell on it and  which their leader does not want to waste time dwelling on and sums it up in a matter-of-fact manner in two words (now lost).

The speaker uses erotema or rhetorical questions over thirteen lines to heap a kind of lighthearted mockery on the fallen angels who he addresses. This is toe show now is no time for rest. They may have lost the battle for Heaven, but the war is still ongoing and they run the risk of even further defeat.  

The speech ends as it begins: With a straightforward and efficiently phrased antithetical juxtaposition: “Awake, arise, or be forever fall’n.”  This antithesis provides the followers with a stark choice of continuing to fight or remaining defeated. 

3. Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself, Part 11”

The third example of antithesis is from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself, Part 11”(1892): 

Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,

Twenty-eight young men and all so friendly;

Twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome.

Here, Walt Whitman is comparing a lady watching young men bathe voyeuristically to the young men whom she is watching. The lady is twenty-eight years old. The young men are twenty-eight in number. 

Whitman is contrasting the age of a seemingly lonely or “lonesome” woman with the friendliness of the young men innocently bathing in camaraderie in the river. This antithesis ends up emphasizing the young woman’s loneliness and longing.

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4. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities 

Our last example is from Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities (1859). It is a rather famous extract that begins Dickens’ novel. We include it here in full: 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . .

Dickens is describing the French Revolution. He focuses on contrasts and contradictions (best of times vs. worst of times) to depict the confused nature of the French Revolution. It was an uprising against tyranny that led to new forms of violence and tyranny. 

This makes it easy to understand why contacts are being used here. Dickens makes use of parallelism, which takes the form of anaphora, which is repetition at the beginning. Every phrase (or rather sentence separated by a comma) begins with “it was.” This long list of anaphoric contradictions gives an impression of just how complicated, exciting, and confusing the period would have been.  

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, May 27). Antithesis | Definition & Examples in Literature. EminentEdit.  https://www.eminentediting.com/post/antithesis-definition-examples-in-literature