Editing Chiasmus (section)

==Examples==
Chiasmus balances words or phrases with similar, though not identical, meanings:

{{poemquote|
But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves.
|[[Shakespeare]], ''[[Othello]]'' 3.3
}}

"Dotes" and "strongly loves" share the same meaning and bracket, as do "doubts" and "suspects".

Additional examples of chiasmus:

{{blockquote|By day the frolic, and the dance by night.|[[Samuel Johnson]], ''[[The Vanity of Human Wishes]]'' (1749)<ref>Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 63</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Despised, if ugly; if she's fair, betrayed.|[[Mary Leapor]], "Essay on Woman" (1751)<ref>Baldick,2008. p.52–53</ref>}}

For comparison, the following is considered antimetabole, in which the reversal in structure involves the same words:

{{blockquote|Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure.|[[Lord Byron]], in ''[[Don Juan (poem)|Don Juan]]'', (1824)<ref>Baldick,2008. p.52</ref>}}

Both chiasmus and antimetabole can be used to reinforce [[antithesis]].<ref>Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 59.</ref> In chiasmus, the clauses display inverted [[Parallelism (grammar)|parallelism]]. Chiasmus was particularly popular in the literature of the ancient world, including [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Latin]] and [[Kʼicheʼ language|K'iche' Maya]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christensen |first1=Allan |title=The Use of Chiasmus by the Ancient K'iche' Maya in Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary,Colonial, and Classic Maya Literature |date=2012 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=978-1607321798 |pages=311–338 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5867918 |access-date=7 September 2019}}</ref> where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text. Many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Ramirez |first= Matthew Eric |title= Descanting on Deformity: The Irregularities in Shakespeare's Large Chiasms |journal= Text and Performance Quarterly |volume= 31 |issue= 1 |pages= 37–49 |date= January 2011 |doi= 10.1080/10462937.2010.526240 |s2cid= 170466856 }}</ref> and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the [[Bible]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Breck |first= John |title= The Shape of Biblical Language: Chiasmus in the Scriptures and Beyond |publisher= St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |year= 1994 |location= Crestwood, N.Y. |oclc= 30893460 |isbn= 978-0-8814-1139-3}}</ref> Chiasmus is also found throughout the [[Quran]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ahmadi |first1=Mohamadnabi |title=Semantic and Rhetorical Aspects of Chiasmus in the Holy Quran |url=https://lasem.semnan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-317-3&slc_lang=ar&sid=fa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917044544/https://lasem.semnan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-317-3&slc_lang=ar&sid=fa |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref> and the [[Book of Mormon]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Givens |first1=Teryl |title=By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, New York |isbn=978-0195168884 |pages=133–134 }}</ref>