Parallelism (rhetoric)

Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern. This structure is particularly effective when "specifying or enumerating pairs or series of like things". A scheme of balance, parallelism represents "one of the basic principles of grammar and rhetoric". Parallelism as a rhetorical device is used in many languages and cultures around the world in poetry, epics, songs, written prose and speech, from the folk level to the professional. An entire issue of the journal Oral Tradition has been devoted to articles on parallelism in languages from all over. It is very often found in Biblical poetry and in proverbs in general. The following sentences and verses possess "similarity in structure" in words and phrases: She tried to make the law clear, precise and equitable. In the quote above, the compounded adjectives serve as parallel elements and support the noun "law". Her purpose was to impress the ignorant, to perplex the dubious, and to confound the scrupulous. In the above quote, three infinitive verb phrases produce the parallel structure supporting the noun "purpose". Note that this rhetorical device requires that the coordinate elements agree with one another grammatically: "nouns with nouns, infinitive verb phrases with infinitive verb phrases and adverb clauses with adverb clauses." When the coordinate elements possess the same number of words (or in the example below, the same number of syllables) the scheme is termed isocolon: I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,My gay apparel for an almsman's gownMy figured goblets for a dish of wood. – Shakespeare, Richard II Synonymous parallelism in which one couplet expresses similar concepts can also be combined with antithetical parallelism in which a second couplet contrasts with the first. For example, synonymous and antithetical parallelism occur in Revelation 22:11: A Let the evildoer still do evil, A' and the filthy still be filthy, B and the righteous still do right.

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Biblical poetry

The ancient Hebrews identified poetical portions in their sacred texts, as shown by their entitling as "songs" or as "chants" passages such as Exodus 15:1-19 and Numbers 21:17-20; a song or chant () is, according to the primary meaning of the term, poetry. The question as to whether the poetical passages of the Old Testament show signs of regular rhythm or meter remains unsolved. Many of the features of Biblical poetry are lost when the poems are translated to English.

Figure of speech

A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into schemes, which vary the ordinary sequence of words, and tropes, where words carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify. An example of a scheme is a polysyndeton: the repetition of a conjunction before every element in a list, whereas the conjunction typically would appear only before the last element, as in "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"—emphasizing the danger and number of animals more than the prosaic wording with only the second "and".

Rhetoric

Rhetoric (ˈrɛtərɪk) is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion" and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he calls it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics".

Ukrainian Literary Imaginaries of Past after 1991: From Substitution to Restoration?

Alexander Dmitriev

This chapter offers a new view of post-Soviet Ukrainain literary memory as expressed in varous texts, redefining the role of clashing narratives of the past under the divisive political and social conditions of upheavals, crises, and military conflicts. Th ...

Routledge2024