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All examples of chiasmus share the same distinctive structure-a reversal in word order that can be
"marked with an X" (as described in Welcome to the World of Chiasmus.)
However, there are a number of interesting variations on the chiastic theme. We'll examine all
of them here at "Types of Chiasmus." In this edition, we take a look at Chiastic Shorthand.
There's a statue in Paris commemorating Niobe (pronounced NY-uh-bee), the Queen of Thebes in Greek mythology.
The mother of numerous children, she boasted of her fertility and disparaged the goddess Leto for having only two
children. It turned out to be a fatal mistake. Leto sought revenge and, with her two children, Apollo
and Artemis, killed all of Niobe's children. In despair, Niobe fled to Mt. Sipylus in Asia Minor, where Zeus
turned her into a stone that wept perpetually. She is known in literature as the personification of maternal
sorrow. In a famous literary allusion, Hamlet describes his mother's behavior at his father's funeral this way:
"Like Niobe, all tears."
Niobe's story is an interesting one. But even more interesting to friends of chiasmus is the inscription that
appears at the base of her statue. Written by Voltaire, it reads (when translated into English):
"The fatal anger of the gods
Turned this woman into stone
The sculptor did much better—
Namely, the opposite."
Voltaire concludes the verse with an intriguing chiastic suggestion—that the sculptor outdid the gods by turning
the stone into a woman. He doesn't formally complete the thought because he is sure readers will know exactly
what he means. By using a helpful little language convention—simply writing "the opposite"—he communicates
what he means without having to use the actual words.
Voltaire does something very similar in one of his most quoted remarks:
"If God created us in his own image
we have more than reciprocated."
Once again, he only suggests the chiasm—that we humans have more than reciprocated by creating God in our image.
It's a thought-provoking notion in its own right, but it's also another interesting way—another shorthand way—of framing
a chiastic thought.
Vice Versa
The Other Way Around
The Reverse Is True
The Opposite Is True
Other Miscellaneous Methods
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