The above, in addition to being difficult to read, constitutes arguably the paradigmatic iteration of the kind of thing it represents.
From a pre-bowdlerized Wikipedia .
The termย Caledonian Antisyzygyย refers to the “idea of dueling polarities within one entity”, thought of as typical for the Scottish psyche and literature. It was first coined byย G. Gregory Smithย in his 1919 bookย Scottish Literature: Character and Influence in which he wrote: “the literature [of Scotland] is the literature of a small country…it runs a shorter course than others…in this shortness and cohesion the most favourable conditions seem to be offered for a making of a general estimate. But on the other hand, we find at closer scanning that the cohesion at least in formal expression and in choice of material is only apparent, that the literature is remarkably varied, and that it becomes, under the stress of foreign influence, almost a zigzag of contradictions. The antithesis need not, however, disconcert us. Perhaps in the very combination of opposites –ย what either of the two Thomases,ย of Norwichย andย Cromarty, might have been willing to call ‘the Caledonian antisyzygy’ย – we have a reflection of the contrasts which the Scot shows at every turn, in his political and ecclesiastical history, in his polemical restlessness, in his adaptability, which is another way of saying that he has made allowance for new conditions, in his practical judgement, which is the admission that two sides of the matter have been considered. If therefore, Scottish history and life are,ย as an old northern writer said of something else, ‘varied with a clean contrair spirit,’ย we need not be surprised to find that in his literature the Scot presents two aspects which appear contradictory. Oxymoron was ever the bravest figure, and we must not forget that disorderly order is order after all.”
Bideodromage II 