In rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in reverse grammatical order (ex: "I know what I like, and like what I know"). It is similar to chiasmus although chiasmus does not use repetition of the same words or phrases. Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language. ... Chiasmus (latinized form of Greek χιασμός, from χίασμα (chiasm), crossing) is a figure of speech based on inverted parallelism. ...

Examples

• Latin: Miser ex potente fiat ex misero potens Seneca the Younger, Thyestes, Act I.10 (let it make misery from power and power from misery)
• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
• "Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedom: 'This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!' " James Boswell Life of Johnson
• "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill, The Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942.
• "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us." Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, Washington Heights, NY, March 29, 1964.
• "Nice to see you, to see you nice" Bruce Forsyth

It is derived from the Greek anti ("against","in opposite direction") and metabole ("turning about"). Latin is an ancient [[Indo-European languages|Indo-well as the Roman CEuropean language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Mycenae, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, John Kennedy, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ... James Boswell James Boswell (October 29, 1740 - May 19, 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... In English literature, The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D. was a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, published in 1791. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red and Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Omaha, Nebraska, May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965 in New York City) was a Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... Bruce Joseph Forsyth, CBE (born Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, 22 February 1928) is a British entertainer and showman who achieved celebrity on the show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, and has since presented game shows such as Play Your Cards Right, The Generation Game, and Strictly Come Dancing. ...

References

• Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.

See also

• Figure of speech
• Rhetoric
• Audio illustrations of antimetabole