Chiasmus (latinized form of Greek χιασμός, from χίασμα (chiasm), "crossing") is a figure of speech based on inverted parallelism. This criss-crossing term derives its name from the X-shaped Greek letter χ (chi). It is a rhetorical figure in which two clauses are related to each other through a reversal of terms in order to make a larger point. In Latin, in particular, it was used to articulate balance or order within the text in which it was included. In linguistics, romanization or latinization is a system for representing a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, where the original word or language used a different writing system. ... Promotional photo of Emileigh Rohn. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Stylistic device. ... Parallelism is a rhetorical device. ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetorical figure or device, or elocution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. ... In grammar, a clause is a group of words consisting of a subject and a predicate, although, in non-finite clauses, the subject is often not explicitly given. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

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 has been attributed to inverted order of themes in stories and plays called a chiastic structure. 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. ... Chiastic structure is a literary structure used most notably in the Torah in those passages attributed to the priestly source. ...

The elements of a simple chiasmus are often labelled in the form A B B A, where the letters correspond to grammar, words, or meaning. Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ...

Chiasmus in Inverted Meaning

But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er

Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strong loves. —Shakespeare, Othello 3.3

Dotes and strong loves share the same meaning and bracket doubts and suspects.

Chiasmus in inverted grammar

An example of a parallel sentence is:

• ”He knowingly lied and we blindly followed”

(A B A B)

Inverting into chiasmus:

• "He knowingly lied and we followed blindly"

(A B B A)

• "I love too much and hate too little"

• "I love too much and too little hate."

Other examples:

• "By day the frolic, and the dance by night". Samuel Johnson The Vanity of Human Wishes.
• "His time a moment, and a point his space." Alexander Pope Essay on Man, Epistle I.

• "Swift as an arrow flying, fleeing like a hare afraid..."

The clause above follows the form of adjective, simile, gerund, gerund, simile, adjective (A B C C B A). Samuel Johnson circa 1772, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. ... Alexander Pope, an English poet best known for his Essay on Criticism and Rape of the Lock Pope, circa 1727. ... A simile is a figure of speech in which the subject is compared to another subject. ... In linguistics, a gerund is a kind of verbal noun that exists in some languages. ...

Chiasmus in Latin

Chiasmus is often used in Latin poetry as an alternative form of the golden line, but it can be found in prose as well. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... 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. ...

• From Seneca the Younger, Thyestes

visceribus atras pascit effossis aves (10) 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. ...

“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 Cicero’s oration Pro Archia Poeta

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) Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator, statesman, political theorist, and philosopher of Ancient Rome. ... Marcus Tullius Ciceros oration in the defense of Archias, a poet accused of not being a Roman citizen. ...

"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, does not hear but sees, 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, infinitive, infinitive, Verb. The ablatives of quality are bracketed by the subjects they modify and form a chiasmus within a chiasmus. In linguistics, the ablative case is a noun case found in several languages, including Latin, Sanskrit and in the Finno_Ugric languages. ... In grammar, accusative and infinitive is the name for a syntactic construction of Latin and Greek, also found in various forms in other languages such as English and Spanish. ...

A B b b b B a a a A

Chiasmus as a Synonym for Antimetabole

These examples are often quoted by modern commentators to demonstrate chiasmus, although they are defined as antimetabole in the classical sense. 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. ...

• "...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.
• "...Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.." John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
• "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F. Kennedy
• "Let's make sure that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, and this president does not choose the next Supreme Court." Albert Gore Jr. at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
• "America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America." [1] Jimmy Carter Farewell Address
• "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. Eisenhower January 1958 speech to the Republican National Committee
• "Well, it's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men." Line spoken by Mae West in I'm No Angel (1933):
• StarKist tuna advertisements from the 1980s included "Sorry, Charlie. StarKist doesn't want tunas with good taste -- StarKist wants tunas that taste good." (N.B. This is more an example of antanaclasis)
• There are examples of chiasmus in the Bible. For example, Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed."
• An earlier example, from Croesus 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 Smirnoff

Chiasmus may be implied, as when Kermit the Frog says "Time's fun when you're having flies" or Mae West says "A hard man is good to find," or Jethro Tull's "In the beginning Man created God." 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. ... 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. ... 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. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Albert Arnold Gore Jr. ... Featured at the Democratic National Convention are speeches by prominent party figures. ... James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American soldier and politician. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bush/Cheney, 2004 Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman is the current Chairman of the RNC. The Republican National Committee (RNC) provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. ... MAE-West is a major Internet peering point located in San Jose, California. ... See also: 1932 in film 1933 1934 in film 1930s in film years in film film // Events British Film Institute founded. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Antanaclasis is a stylistic trope, in which a single word is repeated, but with a different meaning each time. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah, the first book of the Tanakh and also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Croesus Croesus (IPA pronunciation: , CREE-sus) was the king of Lydia from 560/561 BC until his defeat by the Persians in about 547 BC. The English name Croesus come from the Latin transliteration of the Greek , in Arabic and Persian قارون, Qârun. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Overview Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a... Yakov Smirnoff Yakov Smirnoff (born January 24, 1951) is, according to his own description, a Russian-born American comedian. ... Kermit singing Its Not Easy Bein Green Kermit the Frog (born May 9, 1955[1]) is a fictional character, a Muppet and one of puppeteer Jim Hensons most famous and beloved creations. ... Jethro Tull is a rock band that formed in Blackpool, England in the 1960s. ...

Chiasmus is not limited to an exchange of words; it can also involve the exchange of letters or syllables, as in "I’d Rather Have A Bottle In Front Of Me (Than A Frontal Lobotomy)," Bottles of cachaça, a Brazilian alcoholic beverage. ... The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of vertebrates. ...

An informal term for chiasmus introduced by Calvin Trillin and used particularly among political speechwriters is reversible raincoat sentences. Calvin Trillin (born Kansas City, Missouri, December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, and novelist. ...

External links and references

• 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 Day
• Inauguration Speech Do's and Don'ts, Slate-published email exchange between presidential speechwriters Peter Robinson and Michael Waldman

NPR redirects here. ... Day To Day is a radio news and interest program hosted by award-winning correspondent Alex Chadwick. ... Slate is an online news and culture magazine created in 1996 by former The New Republic editor Michael Kinsley and owned by Microsoft (as part of MSN). ... Peter Robinson was a speechwriter for US President Ronald Reagan who authored the sentence, Mr. ...

See also

• Antanaclasis
• Antimetabole
• Chiastic structure
• Figure of speech
• Rhetoric
• Spoonerism
• Synchysis (the reverse of the chiasmus)