The writer’s craft

1. The word “writhing statues” describes the twisting movement and irregular structures
of the statues built in the area. The adjective writhing conveys twisting movements
whereas statues contradict to movement. I think the writer uses this oxymoron to portray
the eccentricity of this place and the strange atmosphere.
2. “Paddling among the trickling leaves” goes beyond the normal logic or confronts
common sense as paddling is often used as a mean of moving through bodies of water
whereas trickling is just the flow of droplets of water. The writer creates the picture of
himself wandering around with no mean of interest nor aim by using this paradoxical
statement.
3. Oxymoron: grandiose folly
Paradoxical statement: anatomies studded with pipes and nozzles
4. His view of the royal palace and gardens of La Granja is but a royal inflation of a
suburban mind, a costly exercise with gnomes and toadstools. Laurice Lee found this
place ridiculously unusual for the writhing statues, marble gods and wood-nymphs,
dolphins and dragon with the isolation leaves this place no less deserted. And so, he
found the royale palace and gardens of La Granja “more than a little vulgar” in this view.