Pipkin is a scholar in the fields of British and American Literature. In this essay, he discusses the issues of meaning and interpretation in "Paradoxes and Oxymorons."

"Paradoxes and Oxymorons" is a poem about language. To be more specific, it is a poem concerned with how words come to have meaning and with the roles that poets and readers play in creating and determining that meaning.

"Paradoxes and Oxymorons" is a good example of a postmodern poem. Postmodernism is a broad and sometimes confusing term that includes many different styles, themes, and perspectives. As a general historical term, postmodernism refers to art and literature of the late twentieth century. Stylistically and thematically, postmodernism is often characterized by an awareness that there is no such thing as absolute meaning, and some postmodern works of art raise the question of whether or not art or poetry even exist. In...