Information AboutChiasmus |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CHIASMUS | |
| rhetoric | |
| figures of speech | |
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Today, chiasmus is applied fairly broadly to any "criss-cross" structure, although in classical rhetoric, it would have been distinguished from other similar devices, especially Antimetabole . In its classical application, chiasmus would have been used for structures that ''do not'' repeat the same words and phrases. EXAMPLES Chiasmus: broader sense These examples are often quoted by modern commentators to demonstrate chiasmus, although most are examples of Antimetabole .
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'''." 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 )," or the flipping of syntactical structures, as in "I love too much and too little hate." This criss-crossing term derives its name from the X-shaped Greek Letter χ (chi). An informal term for chiasmus introduced by Calvin Trillin and used particularly among political speechwriters is reversible raincoat sentences. EXTERNAL LINKS AND REFERENCES
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