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Chiasmus. By Ashley Wech. Definitions of Chiasmus. A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures. An inversion of the order of words or phrases, when repeated or subsequently referred to in a sentence.
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Chiasmus By Ashley Wech
Definitions of Chiasmus • A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures. • An inversion of the order of words or phrases, when repeated or subsequently referred to in a sentence. • Can be used in a way such as saying “vice versa” or “the opposite is true.”
Examples of Chiasmus • "The Old Man and the Sea": "Man can be destroyed but not defeated. Man can be defeated but not destroyed." This is a good example of Chiasmus because the words ‘destroyed’ and ‘defeated’ are inverted in perfect order
More Examples • 1976 book "Papa: A Personal Memoir," Ernest Hemingway’s son Gregory wrote: "He loved writing letters, because they gave him a chance to relax from 'the awful responsibility of writing,' or as he called it, 'the responsibility of awful writing.'"
Yet More Examples • Clare Booth Luce once said this about Eleanor Roosevelt: "No woman has ever so comforted the distressed or so distressed the comfortable."
Purpose • Used as a humorous device • Also adds to the repetition of parallelism • Makes the quote more memorable