Antimetabole
Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues In rhetoric, antimetabole (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order; for example, "I know what I like, and I like what I know". It is related to, and sometimes considered a special case of, chiasmus.
An antimetabole can be predictive, because it is easy to reverse the terms. It may trigger deeper reflection than merely stating one half of the line.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
ExamplesEdit
- "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" ("One for all, all for one")
- "Eat to live, do not live to eat." —attributed to Socrates
- "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." —John F. Kennedy, 1961 inaugural address
- "There is no 'way to peace'. Peace is the way." —A. J. Muste
- "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." —Mark 2:27<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
- "You need to change how you see things in order for the things you see to change."
- "With my mind on my money and my money on my mind." —Snoop Dogg in the song "Gin and Juice"
- "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, Party always finds you!" —Yakov Smirnoff
- "The great object of [Hamlet's] life is defeated by continually resolving to do, yet doing nothing but resolve." —Samuel Taylor Coleridge on William Shakespeare's Hamlet
- "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us." —Malcolm X<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- "He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man." —Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- "Are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo? Or are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest?"—Suguru Geto, Jujutsu Kaisen
- "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" —William Shakespeare, Macbeth<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- "And we'll lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example." —Joe Biden, 2021 inaugural address<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- "All crime is vulgar, just as all vulgarity is crime" —Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- "I'm hoping that somebody pray for me, I'm praying that somebody hope for me." —JID in the song "Enemy"
- “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” —Benjamin Franklin
- ""Son, I am able," she said. "Though you scare me." "Watch" said I. "Beloved," I said, "Watch me scare you, though." Said she, "Able am I, son."" —They Might Be Giants, "I Palindrome I"
- "Putin...wanted to see the Finlandization of NATO. I told [the President of Finland], he's...gonna get the Natoization of Finland." —Joe Biden, in interview with Time Magazine<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
EtymologyEdit
It is derived from the Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration, 'against, opposite') and Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Transliteration, 'turning about, change').
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
External linksEdit
- Audio examples of antimetabole at americanrhetoric.com
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- Antimetabole detector at lingfil.uu.se