Language and Paradox

"And thee, feigned vestal, in worse arms shall see; Then thy sick taper will begin to wink,..." -"The Apparition" by John Donne

     Save "Hazel tells LaVerne," most of the poems are written in learned language. Many of them used words I had never heard of that carried their own connotations. Therefore the diction, or language of writing, benefits a reader who can interpret the educated comparisons which each poem presents. When I researched these words I found that many of them were descriptive explanations of the characteristics or types of people presented in the poems. I included the line above because it is a prime example of the use of diction to present a paradox. In this case, the educated paradox serves to take the edge off the insult which the reader can infer from the meanings of the words. "Feigned" means fake and "vestal" is a virgin. So basically the speaker is playing out his ridicule and revenge through cleverly masked put-downs. I think these sometimes unknown words can often be attention-grabbing techniques. They prompt the reader to get a better understanding of the plot and consequently a better understanding of other aspects like tone and theme.