Here's a piece of writing I came up with:
The rolling billows rocked the mighty galleon
cradling it madly as if it were but a mere child.
There are many seeming contradictions: When we think "billows rocked" we think of a powerful motion, "cradling" goes against that, and then "madly" goes against cradling and finally "as if it were but a mere child" goes completely against the idea of a powerful "rolling billow"?
Is this just really bad style? It seems to have a poetic effect. Is there a way to leverage such inconsistencies to deliberately create this effect? And can it be used in novels, or only in poetry?