Literary Tools: Paradox English Literature Poster featuring a quote from "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. Laminated Educational Art Print

"It was the best of times; It was the worst of times" is NOT a paradox!!The clauses may SEEM contradictory; they are not."It was the best of times" for one group of people,whereas "It was the worst of times" for everyone ELSE.A paradox requires that a phrase be self-contradictory.Dickens quote is being misinterpreted as self-contradictory, when in fact he is shifting the indirect object from the fortunate to the masses. Any difference in his descriptions of the two distinct groups is not paradoxical, but rather parallel.