Chiasmus (Reversed Parallel Construction)

Chiasmus belongs to the group of stylistic devices based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. The structure of two successive sentences may be described as reversed parallel construction, the word-order of one of the sentences being interved as compared with that of the other, as in:

“As high as we have mounted in delight

In our dejection do we sink as low.” (Wordsworth)

“Down dropped the breeze,

The sails dropped down.” (Coleridge)

Chiasmus is sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active voice to passive or vice, for example:

“The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it.(Dickens)

This device is effective in that it helps to lay stress on the second part of utterance, which is opposite in structure, ‘in our dejection’; ‘Scrooge signed it’. This due to the sudden change in the structure which by its very unexpectedness linguistically requires a slight pause before it.

As is seen from the exanple above, chiasmus can appear only when there are two successive, is the factor which predetermines the birth of the device.

There are different variants of the structural design of chiasmus. The first example given shows chiasmus appearing in a complex sentence where the second part has an opposite arrangement. The second example demonstrates chiasmus in a sentence expressing semantically the relation of cause and effect. Structurally,however,the two parts are presented as independent sentences, and it is the chiasmatic structure which supports the idea of subordination. The third example is composed of two independent sentences and the chiasmus serves to increase the effect of climax. Here is another example of chiasmus where two parallel constructions are followed by reversed parallel construction linked to the former by the conjunction and:

“The night winds sigh,the breakers roar,

And shrieks the wild sea-mew.” (Byron)

It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device, i.e. it is only the arrangement of the parts of the utterance which constitutes this stylistic device. In the famous epigram by Byron:

“In the days of old men made the manners;

Manners now make men,”

there is no inversion, but a lexical device. Both of the parallel construction have the same, the normal word-order. However, the witty arrangement of the words has given the utterance an epigrammatic character. This device may be classed as lexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition. Byron particularly favoured it. Here are some other examples:

“His jokes were sermons, and his sermons jokes.”

“‘Tis strange,-but true; for truth is always strange.”

“But Tom’s no more - and so no more of Tom.”

“True, ‘tis a pity-pity’tis,’tis true.”

“Men are the sport of circumstances, when

The circumstances seem the sport of men.”

“‘Tis a pity though, in this sublime word that

Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure.”

Note the difference in meaning of the repeated words on which the epigrammatic effect rests: ‘strange-strange;’ ‘no more-no more’, ’jokes-jokes’

Syntactical chiasmus is sometimes used to break the monotony of parallel construction. But whatever the purpose of chiasmus, it will always bring in some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis on some portion of the second part.

Control questions:

1. Name and dwell upon the Syntactical SD and EM.

Literature:

1. Л.Л. Нелюбин. Лингвостилистика современного английского языка. М., 2007г

2.Арнольд И.В. Стилистика современного английского языка. М., 1990
3. Кухаренко В.П. Семинары по стилистике. М., 1985
4. Galperin I. R. Stylistics. М., 1981
5. Кухаренко В.П. Интерпретация текста. М., 1984.
6. Разинкина Н.М, Функциональная стилистика. М., 1989.
7. Телия В.Н. Теория метафоры. М., Наука, 1990.

8. Ullman, Stephen, Words and their use. Frederich Muller, Ldn. 1975, p. 107

9.Verhaar, John W.M., Proceeding of the Ninth international congress of linguists, The Hague, 1986, p. 378

10.Foster, Brian, The changing English language, Penguin books, 1990, p.12

11.Barfield, Owen. Poetic diction. Lnd. 1979, 2nd. ed. p. 628

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