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

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