Chiasmus
Encyclopedia
In rhetoric
, chiasmus (from the , chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ
") is the figure of speech
in which two or more clause
s are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism
. Chiasmus was particularly popular both in Greek
and in Latin
literature, where it was used to articulate balance or order within a text. As a popular example, many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible
. It is also used various times in the Book of Mormon
.
Today, chiasmus is applied fairly broadly to any "criss-cross" structure, although in classical rhetoric it was distinguished from other similar devices, such as the antimetabole
. In its classical application, chiasmus would have been used for structures that do not repeat the same words and phrases, but invert a sentence's grammatical structure or ideas. The concept of chiasmus on a higher level, applied to motifs, turns of phrase, or whole passages, is called chiastic structure
.
The elements of simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form A B B A, where the letters correspond to grammar
, words, or meaning.
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves.
—Shakespeare, Othello
3.3
"Dotes" and "strongly loves" share the same meaning and bracket "doubts" and "suspects."
Consider the example of a parallel sentence:
Inverting into chiasmus:
Other examples:
The clause above follows the form of adjective, simile
, participle
, participle, simile, adjective (A B C C B A).
In parallel form:
A "But many that are first
B shall be last;
B1 and the last
A1 shall be first." Jesus
(Bible: Matthew 19:30.)
A "Do not give what is holy to dogs,
B and do not throw your pearls before swine,
B1 lest they (the pigs) trample them under their feet,
A1 and (the dogs) turn and tear you to pieces." Jesus
(Bible: Matthew 7:6.)
A "Make the heart of this people fat,
B and make their ears heavy,
C and shut their eyes;
C1 lest they see with their eyes,
B1 and hear with their ears,
A1 and understand with their heart, and convert [return], and be healed." (Bible: Isaiah 6:10)
A "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
B to the house of the God of Jacob
C …and we will walk in his paths…
D And he shall judge among the nations…
E they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
E1 and their spears into pruninghooks:
D1 nation shall not lift up sword against nation…
B1 O house of Jacob,
A1 come ye,
C1 and let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Bible: Isaiah 2:3-5)
(Note: in this example, C1 does not fall where it is expected to fall; it follows A1.)
A Remember
B Jesus Christ
C raised from the dead
D descended from David. This is my gospel
E for which I am suffering
F even to the point of being chained like a criminal
F1 But God's word is not chained
E1 Therefore I endure everything
D1 for the sake of the elect, that they too
C1 may obtain the salvation that is in
B1 Christ Jesus
A1 with eternal glory.
(Bible: 2 Timothy 2:8-10)
A "…but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves
B and become as little children,
C and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
D For the natural man
E is an enemy to God,
F and has been from the fall of Adam,
F1 and will be, forever and ever,
E1 unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,
D1 and putteth off the natural man
C1 and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,
B1 and becometh as a child,
A1 submissive, meek, humble…" (Book of Mormon
: Mosiah 3:18-19)
poetry as an alternative form of the golden line
, but it can be found in prose as well.
visceribus atras pascit effossis aves (10)
“He feeds the black birds with his gutted wounds”
AbVaB
(A and B denote nouns; a and b denote adjectives and the nouns they modify; V is the verb.)
Adest vir summa auctoritate et religione et fide, M. Lucullus, qui se non opinari sed scire, non audisse sed vidisse, non interfuisse sed egisse dicit. (8)
"There is a man present of the highest authority, duty, and faith, M. Lucullus who (will testify) that he himself does not believe but knows, did not hear but saw, was not only present but did it himself."
The grammar of the Latin follows the form of Verb, Subject, ablative, ablative, ablative, Subject, (relative clause in indirect statement), infinitive verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, Verb. The ablatives of quality are bracketed by the subjects they modify and form a chiasmus within a chiasmus.
A B b b b B a a a A
For example, in his letter about the death of Pliny the Elder
, he described his uncle sailing into danger to save others:
festinat illuc unde alii fugiunt
"He hurried to the place from where others were fleeing."
Here, he (the writer and nephew, Pliny the Younger) places the verbs festinat (hurried) and fugiunt (were fleeing) on the outside of the chiasmus, and the adverbs illuc (to the place) and unde (where from) in the middle to form the cross. This contrasts the two actions (hurrying and fleeing), and emphasizes the bravery of the uncle (Pliny the elder).
, the first letters of "Christ
" in Greek, and since the "X" that characterizes chiasmus stands for the cross
on which Christ was crucified. Thus, Christian poets have utilized chiasmus in very specific places to direct attention to an added layer of meaning. A good example is found early on in John Milton
's Paradise Lost
, in a passage where the Son of God tells his father that untempered justice without mercy is an unlikely course of action in his predicted punishment for Man's fall: "That be from thee farr, / That farr be from thee" (Bk.3, 153-54).
>
A
B
B
A
be from thee
farr
farr
be from thee
The Son of God's future role as Christ is prefigured as it were by the utilization of the cruciform chiasmus (be—far/far—be); Christ's crucifixion will be the beginning of God's mercy tempering his justice. Earlier in the same passage chiasmus was already used in the description of the Son of God's appearance: "In his face / Divine compassion visibly appeerd, / Love without end, and without measure Grace" (140-42).
in the classical sense.
Chiasmus does not need to be lexical; it can also be aural, as the classic quote,
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
, chiasmus (from the , chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ
Chi (letter)
Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced as in English.-Greek:-Ancient Greek:Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop .-Koine Greek:...
") is the figure of speech
Figure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...
in which two or more clause
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
s are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism
Parallelism (grammar)
In grammar, parallelism is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. The application of parallelism in sentence construction can sometimes improve writing style clearness and readability. Parallelism may also be known as parallel structure or parallel construction...
. Chiasmus was particularly popular both in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
literature, where it was used to articulate balance or order within a text. As a popular example, many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. It is also used various times in the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
.
Today, chiasmus is applied fairly broadly to any "criss-cross" structure, although in classical rhetoric it was distinguished from other similar devices, such as the antimetabole
Antimetabole
In rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order...
. In its classical application, chiasmus would have been used for structures that do not repeat the same words and phrases, but invert a sentence's grammatical structure or ideas. The concept of chiasmus on a higher level, applied to motifs, turns of phrase, or whole passages, is called chiastic structure
Chiastic structure
Chiastic structure is a literary device for chiasmus applied to narrative motifs, turns of phrase, or whole passages. Various structures of chiasmus are commonly seen in ancient literature to emphasize, parallel, or contrast concepts or ideas...
.
The elements of simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form A B B A, where the letters correspond to grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, words, or meaning.
Inverted meaning
But O, what damned minutes tells he o'erWho dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves.
—Shakespeare, Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
3.3
"Dotes" and "strongly loves" share the same meaning and bracket "doubts" and "suspects."
| A | B | B | A |
| dotes | doubts | suspects | strongly loves |
Inverted grammar
A reversed order of the grammar in two or more clauses in a sentence will yield a chiasmus.Consider the example of a parallel sentence:
- ”He knowingly led and we blindly followed”
- (A B A B)
- (Subject, adverb, verb, conjunction (cross), subject, adverb, verb.)
Inverting into chiasmus:
- "He knowingly led and we followed blindly"
- (A B B A)
- (Subject, adverb, verb, conjunction (cross), subject, verb, adverb.)
Other examples:
- "Oh, you haven't, haven't you?" Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
Oliver Twist.
- (pronoun, contracted verb, contracted verb, pronoun)
- "By day the frolic, and the dance by night". Samuel JohnsonSamuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
The Vanity of Human Wishes.
- "By day the frolic, and the dance by night". Samuel Johnson
- (prepositional phrases and gerunds in reverse order)
- "His time a moment, and a point his space." Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
Essay on Man, Epistle I.
- "His time a moment, and a point his space." Alexander Pope
- (possessive phrases with nouns; also note that this is an example of chiasmus of inverted meaning "time and space", "moment and point")
- "Swift as an arrow flying, fleeing like a hare afraid"
The clause above follows the form of adjective, simile
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...
, participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
, participle, simile, adjective (A B C C B A).
In parallel form:
- Swift as an arrow flying, afraid like a hare fleeing.
- (A B C A B C)
In Scripture
The ancient Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testaments are rich in chiasmus. Many of these have become lost in translation, but hundreds of others remain. The following examples are indented to show the parallel structure of the text.A "But many that are first
B shall be last;
B1 and the last
A1 shall be first." Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
(Bible: Matthew 19:30.)
A "Do not give what is holy to dogs,
B and do not throw your pearls before swine,
B1 lest they (the pigs) trample them under their feet,
A1 and (the dogs) turn and tear you to pieces." Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
(Bible: Matthew 7:6.)
A "Make the heart of this people fat,
B and make their ears heavy,
C and shut their eyes;
C1 lest they see with their eyes,
B1 and hear with their ears,
A1 and understand with their heart, and convert [return], and be healed." (Bible: Isaiah 6:10)
A "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
B to the house of the God of Jacob
C …and we will walk in his paths…
D And he shall judge among the nations…
E they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
E1 and their spears into pruninghooks:
D1 nation shall not lift up sword against nation…
B1 O house of Jacob,
A1 come ye,
C1 and let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Bible: Isaiah 2:3-5)
(Note: in this example, C1 does not fall where it is expected to fall; it follows A1.)
A Remember
B Jesus Christ
C raised from the dead
D descended from David. This is my gospel
E for which I am suffering
F even to the point of being chained like a criminal
F1 But God's word is not chained
E1 Therefore I endure everything
D1 for the sake of the elect, that they too
C1 may obtain the salvation that is in
B1 Christ Jesus
A1 with eternal glory.
(Bible: 2 Timothy 2:8-10)
A "…but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves
B and become as little children,
C and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
D For the natural man
E is an enemy to God,
F and has been from the fall of Adam,
F1 and will be, forever and ever,
E1 unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,
D1 and putteth off the natural man
C1 and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,
B1 and becometh as a child,
A1 submissive, meek, humble…" (Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
: Mosiah 3:18-19)
In Latin
Chiasmus is often used in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poetry as an alternative form of the golden line
Golden line
The golden line is a type of Latin dactylic hexameter frequently mentioned in Latin classrooms in English speaking countries and in contemporary scholarship written in English.-Definition:...
, but it can be found in prose as well.
-
- From Seneca the YoungerSeneca the YoungerLucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
, ThyestesThyestesIn Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, King of Olympia, and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus, in their desire for the throne of Olympia...
:
- From Seneca the Younger
visceribus atras pascit effossis aves (10)
“He feeds the black birds with his gutted wounds”
AbVaB
(A and B denote nouns; a and b denote adjectives and the nouns they modify; V is the verb.)
-
- A more complex form can be found in CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
’s oration Pro Archia PoetaPro Archia PoetaPro Archia Poeta is Marcus Tullius Cicero's oration in the defense of Aulus Licinius Archias, a poet accused of not being a Roman citizen. This accusation is believed to have been a political move against Lucullus through Archias. The poet was originally Greek but had been living in Rome for an...
:
- A more complex form can be found in Cicero
Adest vir summa auctoritate et religione et fide, M. Lucullus, qui se non opinari sed scire, non audisse sed vidisse, non interfuisse sed egisse dicit. (8)
"There is a man present of the highest authority, duty, and faith, M. Lucullus who (will testify) that he himself does not believe but knows, did not hear but saw, was not only present but did it himself."
The grammar of the Latin follows the form of Verb, Subject, ablative, ablative, ablative, Subject, (relative clause in indirect statement), infinitive verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, infinitive verb phrase, Verb. The ablatives of quality are bracketed by the subjects they modify and form a chiasmus within a chiasmus.
A B b b b B a a a A
-
- Pliny the YoungerPliny the YoungerGaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...
also uses the chiasmus frequently in his letters.
- Pliny the Younger
For example, in his letter about the death of Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, he described his uncle sailing into danger to save others:
festinat illuc unde alii fugiunt
"He hurried to the place from where others were fleeing."
Here, he (the writer and nephew, Pliny the Younger) places the verbs festinat (hurried) and fugiunt (were fleeing) on the outside of the chiasmus, and the adverbs illuc (to the place) and unde (where from) in the middle to form the cross. This contrasts the two actions (hurrying and fleeing), and emphasizes the bravery of the uncle (Pliny the elder).
Chi figures Christ
In Christian poetry, chiasmus takes on added meaning since Chi is the first element of Chi RhoChi Rho
The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters chi and rho of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ in such a way to produce the monogram ☧...
, the first letters of "Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
" in Greek, and since the "X" that characterizes chiasmus stands for the cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
on which Christ was crucified. Thus, Christian poets have utilized chiasmus in very specific places to direct attention to an added layer of meaning. A good example is found early on in John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, in a passage where the Son of God tells his father that untempered justice without mercy is an unlikely course of action in his predicted punishment for Man's fall: "That be from thee farr, / That farr be from thee" (Bk.3, 153-54).
The Son of God's future role as Christ is prefigured as it were by the utilization of the cruciform chiasmus (be—far/far—be); Christ's crucifixion will be the beginning of God's mercy tempering his justice. Earlier in the same passage chiasmus was already used in the description of the Son of God's appearance: "In his face / Divine compassion visibly appeerd, / Love without end, and without measure Grace" (140-42).
| A | B | B | A |
| Love | without end | without measure | Grace |
Synonym for antimetabole
These examples are often quoted by modern commentators to demonstrate chiasmus, although they are defined as antimetaboleAntimetabole
In rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order...
in the classical sense.
- "Who sheds the blood of a man, by a man shall his blood be shed..." Genesis 9:6
- In the original Hebrew the above phrase is exactly six words long, in the form (A B C C B A)
- Fecerunt itaque ciuitates duas amores duo, terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei, caelestem uero amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui. "Likewise, two cities have been formed by two loves, the worldly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self." AugustineAugustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, City of God, XIV.28 (AcBdAdBc) (parallelism with love & contempt, chiasmus with self and God). - "...ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. - "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
- "Let's make sure that the Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
does not pick the next presidentBush v. GoreBush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
, and this presidentGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
does not choose the next Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
." Albert Gore Jr. at the 2004 Democratic National ConventionDemocratic National ConventionThe Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
. - "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. - "America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America." http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/speeches/farewell.phtml Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
Farewell Address - "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." Frederick DouglassFrederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself - "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog." Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
January 1958 speech to the Republican National CommitteeRepublican National CommitteeThe Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is... - "Well, it's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men." Line spoken by Mae WestMae WestMae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
in I'm No Angel (19331933 in film-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
) - An earlier example, from CroesusCroesusCroesus was the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC until his defeat by the Persians. The fall of Croesus made a profound impact on the Hellenes, providing a fixed point in their calendar. "By the fifth century at least," J.A.S...
dates back to the 6th century BC: "In peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons." - "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, the Party can always find you!" Yakov SmirnoffYakov SmirnoffYakov Naumovich Pokhis , better known as Yakov Smirnoff, is a Ukrainian-born American comedian, painter and teacher. He was popular in the 1980s for comedy performances in which he used irony and word play to contrast life under the Communist regime in his native Soviet Union with life in the...
(See Russian Reversal) - "Some people use change to promote their careers; other people use their careers to promote change." Sarah PalinSarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
- "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- "When the going gets tough, the tough get going!" Anon.
- "They say money don't make the man but man, I'm makin' money." Tupac ShakurTupac ShakurTupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
in the song "Thug Passion" - "They don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care." Jim CalhounJim CalhounJames A. Calhoun is the head coach of the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team. His teams have won three national championships , played in four Final Fours , won the 1988 NIT championship, and have won seven Big East tournament championships...
Chiasmus does not need to be lexical; it can also be aural, as the classic quote,
- "I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."
- "Champagne for my Real Friends; Real Pain for my Sham Friends." Fall Out BoyFall Out BoyFall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
- In the movie Full Metal JacketFull Metal JacketFull Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
, the Senior Drill Instructor says: "Private Pyle, you had best square your ass away and start shitting me tiffany cufflinks or I will definitely fuck you up.
See also
- Arch formArch formIn music, arch form is a sectional structure for a piece of music based on repetition, in reverse order, of all or most musical sections such that the overall form is symmetric, most often around a central movement...
- AntanaclasisAntanaclasisIn rhetoric, antanaclasis is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.-Examples:...
- AntimetaboleAntimetaboleIn rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order...
- Chiastic structureChiastic structureChiastic structure is a literary device for chiasmus applied to narrative motifs, turns of phrase, or whole passages. Various structures of chiasmus are commonly seen in ancient literature to emphasize, parallel, or contrast concepts or ideas...
- Figure of speechFigure of speechA figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...
- RhetoricRhetoricRhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
- Russian reversal
- SpoonerismSpoonerismA spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
- SynchysisSynchysisSynchysis is an interlocked word order, in the form A-B-A-B; which often display change and difference. This poetry form was a favorite with Latin poets...
(the reverse of the chiasmus) - Transpositional punTranspositional punA transpositional pun is a complicated pun format with two aspects. It involves transposing the words in a well-known phrase or saying to get a daffynition-like clever redefinition of a well-known word unrelated to the original phrase...
External links
- Rhetorical device defined and examples given, Dr. Gideon O. Burton, Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, BYU.
- A website dedicated to the subject from the author of Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You: Chiasmus and a World of Quotations That Say What They Mean and Mean What They Say (ISBN 0-670-87827-8)
- Chiasmus as a figure of speech
- Political Speech Wordplay at the RNC from NPR's Day to DayDay to DayDay to Day was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio , and produced by NPR in collaboration with Slate. Madeleine Brand served as host since 2006...
- Inauguration Speech Do's and Don'ts, SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
-published email exchange between presidential speechwriters Peter RobinsonPeter Robinson (speechwriter)Peter Mark Robinson is an American author, research fellow, television host and former speechwriter for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. He is currently the host of Uncommon Knowledge, an interview show by Stanford's Hoover Institution. He is also a research fellow...
and Michael WaldmanMichael WaldmanMichael Waldman is executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. The Center is one of the nation’s leading legal voices on election law, Constitutional law, government... - Chiastic Structures in the Christian Scripture - Examples from the Psalms and sayings of Jesus.
- Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon
- Chiastic outline of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
- Chiastic outline of Martin Luther King, Junior's I Have a Dream speech