A literary structure known as chiasmus exists in the book of mormon. Chiasmus examples and definition of chasmus literary devices. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. A chiasm or chiasmus if you rather is a writing style that uses a unique repetition pattern for clarification and emphasis. Welch discovered the presence of chiasmus on august 16, 1967 while on his mission in germany, and since that time, chiasmus has served as a profound witness for the beauty and complexity of the book of mormon. Does chiasmus appear in the book of mormon by chance. He has since spent much time studying chiasmus in the book of mormon, the bible, and other sacred literature. It is a parallelism in structure rather than rhyme, a parallelism of thought or idea. They claim that such findings support claims of hebrew origins in the text on the basis that chiasmus is often found.
Note that a chiasmus includes anadiplosis, but not every anadiplosis reverses itself in the. It is a figure of speech in which the second half of. Chiasmus definition of chiasmus by the free dictionary. In rhetoric, chiasmus is a verbal pattern a type of antithesis in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. Definition, usage and a list of chiasmus examples in historic speeches by great speakers. Anthony paul lectured on translation studies and english literature at the university of amsterdam from 1972 to 2002. Macbeth, tragedy and chiasmus 1992 and has published several works of literary fiction and translations.
Book title by mardy grothe taken from a quote by joey adams. In rhetoric, chiasmus or, less commonly, chiasm is a reversal of grammatical structures in. The phenomenon which makes that possible is the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon. Note that sychesis has a abab structure, enjambment is the continuation of a sentencephrase onto another line, and tmesis is the separation of a compound word into two. This discovery has changed the way we forever approach book of mormon scholarship. Chiasmus in the book of mormon book of mormon central. His books are full of sentences written with this structure, and theyre often pretty confusing. Kennedy we shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us. Chiasmus is also known as antimetabole, epanodos, inverted parallelism, reverse parallelism, syntactical inversion, thought inversion, and turn around. John welch graduated from duke law school in 1972 and is now a professor of law in the j. Definition, usage and a list of chiasmus examples in common speech and literature.
First, chiasmus in the book of mormon demonstrates that the text is orderly, complex, rich, and aesthetically pleasing. If the examples were chiasmic instead, they would read. Definition and examples of chiasmus figure of speech. A concise definition of chiasmus along with usage tips, an expanded. In order to assess the significance of chiasmus in the book of mormon, we examined all of the chiasms in the book that have been proposed by welch and parry and have calculated l for those involving at least five chiastic elements satisfying rule 2. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Chiasmus definition and meaning collins english dictionary. Chiasmus in rhetoric is the figure of speech in which two sentences are related to each other through the reversal of their grammatical structures. It is claimed that the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon is either coincidental, an artifact of the observer, or not impressive since examples of chiastic patterns have been found in the doctrine and covenants or other 19th century. Definition of chiasmus noun in oxford advanced learners dictionary. I still work with software i develop my own webpages and am continually looking at gods word to find more hidden gems but my passion is to spread the word. John welch brought much of chiastic structure in the book of mormon to the forefront. All you have to do is make up the first half of the sentence, and then flip a couple of words around for the second half. Explanation about parallel literary structure revised presentation slide at society of biblical literature 2010 frequently asked questions.
The key is that the sentence is grammatically the same, just reversed. An example of this structure is idea a and idea b, followed by idea b and idea a. Thus it seems that we are able to meet the demands of an exceptionally strong conditional here. The discovery of chiasmus in the book of mormon is one of the most significant scholarly contributions to understanding and appreciating the nephite record. Understanding the chiasms of joshua, a chapterbychapter examination of the intriguing chiastic structure in the book of joshua. So perhaps think of a crisscross, or crossing up the reader. Here are a few examples of chiasmus that are also examples of antimetabole from famous speeches.
Chiasmus is a poetic form that is common in ancient hebrew texts. A a b b this woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to. Welch first identified chiasmus in the book of mormon in 1967. They also provide useful background information and other insights. Clear explanation of when and how to write a chiasmus. Climax and chiasmus in the scarlet letter and foul is fair shakespeare examples of chiasmus.
While the book of mormon is richly chiastic, extensive structural chiasmus has yet to be found in any other literature in the world other than the hebrew. However, a recently recognized phenomenon in the book of mormon has now made it possible for us to cite many specific examples of passages in the book of mormon which bear the distinct stamp of an ancient hebraic literary form. Thats one small step for a man, and one man for a small step. The term chiasmus also sometimes spelled as chiasm, is derived from a greek verb that means to mark with two lines crossing like an x chi, the 22nd letter of the greek alphabet. This website is designed to help in the research and study of chiasmus, a literary device found in texts from many cultures, most notably in ancient texts. Antimetabole by definition features the reuse of words in the first and second halves of a sentence. A chiasm otherwise known as chiasmus is a literary device that presents a series of ideas, and then repeats them in opposite order. People everywhere are welcome to submit chiasms or information. These verses from the book of mormon use chiasmus to build an argument for. The authors find that examples of chiasmus in the book of abraham or the doctrine and covenants are likely to be due to chance, but several wellknown examples of chiasmus in the book of mormon appear to be intentional with a high level of confidence. Boris wiseman is associate professor of french and. Chiasmus definition, a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in he went to the country, to the town went she. Chiasmus in the book of mormon religious studies center. There are numerous examples of direct parallelism in proverbs, e.
The first of my three books is joshuas spiritual warfare. Chiasmus is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced. Literary structure chiasm, chiasmus of the bible introduction what is literary structure. Chiasmus is the term for a rhetorical device in which a sentence or phrase is followed by a sentence or. Seeing some chiasmus examples will help explain this rhetorical device.
Chiasmus pronounced kyazmus is a rhetorical device that originates from the greek chiazo, meaning to shape like a letter x. Chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in narrative motifs and other textual passages. This book is not a summary of that scholarship but rather something of a popularization of many of its conclusions pressed into the service of a study of coherence as. Chiasmus is the term for a rhetorical device in which a sentence or phrase is followed by a sentence or phrase that reverses the structure and order of the first one in chiasmus, the words do not have to be repeatedthe second sentence does not just reverse the words of the first sentence. It is also found throughout the quran and the book of mormon.
Chiasmus is a figure of speech that displays inverted parallelism. Understanding the literary term chiasmus better with. It has the abba structure of a chiamus accusative pl dative sing dative sing accusative pl. His latest novel, more than a dream, has been published as an ebook 20. Chiasmus and culture studies in rhetoric and culture. What is chiasmus and why is it so important in the book of. Some have argued chiasmus is evidence of the texts historical authenticity, suggesting it reflects the semitic background of nephi and other authors of the book of mormon. Chiasmus examples in the bible in the bible, chiasmus was intentionally employed by both writers and speakers because it not only helped emphasize and reiterate key ideas, but also because its lyrical patterns made it easier for people to understand, absorb, and even memorize. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, a and b, together with variants a and b, being presented as a,b,b,a. The structure of a chiasmus is pretty simple, so they arent difficult to craft. While researching this article, i came across an intriguing book titled. Chiasmus is a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the. Defines chiasmus, quotes several speech examples, and presents.
Chiasmus is a greek term that means diagonal arrangement. Understanding the use of chiasmus in the book of mormon can benefit readers in many ways. Chiasmus is in a literature if and only if its roots are hebraic. In addition, he has also published extensively on the history and role of chiasmus in sacred literature. Chiasmus definition is an inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases as in goldsmiths to stop too fearful, and too faint to go. Two lines of poetry are said to be parallel if the component elements of one line correspond directly to those of the other in a onetoone relationship. While there are many examples of chiastic structure in the quran, perhaps the most well known is in the verse of the throne or ayat. Bishop lowth, whose lectures on hebrew poetry in 1741 first introduced the name parallelism for the hebrew poetic style, pointed out that this structure, based as it is on meaning, survives translation into the prose of any language with. Examples of chiasmus can be found in the book of mormon. Two chiasm examples to help explain chiastic structures. Chiasmus can be defined most simply as an inverted type of parallelism.