In rhetoric, chiasmus (from the Greek: χιάζω, chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ") is the figure of speech in which two or more clauses 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 in the literature of the ancient world, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text. As a popular example, many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible.
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. For example John F. Kennedy said "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."
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."
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:
"By day the frolic, and the dance by night". Samuel Johnson The Vanity of Human Wishes.
(prepositional phrases and gerunds in reverse order)
"His time a moment, and a point his space." Alexander Pope Essay on Man, Epistle I.
(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, participle, 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 Religious Texts
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 in 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 in 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." 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"
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.
2 Timothy 2:8-10
Chi figures Christ
In Christian poetry, chiasmus takes on added meaning since Chi is the first element of Chi Rho, 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
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 appeared,
/ Love without end, and without measure Grace"
Bk 3, 140-42
Short Examples
It is not how old you are but how you are old.
I say what I like and I like what I say.
"I mean what I say" and "I say what I mean"
Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland
"Oh, you haven't, haven't you?"
Charles Dickens Oliver Twist.
“Lust is what makes you keep wanting to do it, Even when you have no desire to be with each other. Love is what makes you keep wanting to be with each other, Even when you have no desire to do it.”
Judith Viorst
"...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
"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."
John F. Kennedy
"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."
Bill Clinton 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."
Jimmy Carter Farewell Address
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
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." Benjamin Franklin
Descriptive Examples
"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."
Augustine, City of God, XIV.28
"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)
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