Chiasmus

From Awe

This article is part of the Figures of Speech course. You may choose to follow it in a structured way, or read each item separately.

Chiasmus is a figure where two structures containing the same elements have them in opposite orders. In St Luke’s Gospel, in the Christian Bible, there is an unjust steward (manager) who is sacked. He protests, saying that he is not fit for manual work, but he is too proud to ask for money. His words are translated in the King James version (1607) as, “I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.” This is a fine example of chiasmus. The two clauses have the same basic word order, Subject + modal (auxiliary) + Verb; but while the first Clause has these elements in that order [I_pn^S can_aux not_neg^modal dig_verb^V], the second has them in the order Verb + Subject + modal [to beg_verb^V I_pn^S am_modal ashamed^V]