Chiastic structure

Also, this article is about the literary technique. For the mathematics theory, see Ring theory.

Chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in narrative motifs and other textual passages. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, A and B, together with variants A' and B', being presented as A,B,B',A'. Alternative names include ring structure, because the opening and closing 'A' can be viewed as completing a circle, palistrophe,^[1] or symmetric structure. It may be regarded as chiasmus scaled up from clauses to larger units of text.

These often symmetrical patterns are commonly found in ancient literature such as the epic poetry of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Classicist Bruno Gentili describes this technique as "the cyclical, circular, or 'ring' pattern (ring composition). Here the idea that introduced a compositional section is repeated at its conclusion, so that the whole passage is framed by material of identical content"^[2]. Meanwhile in classical prose, scholars often find chiastic narrative techniques in the Histories of Herodotus:

"Herodotus frequently uses ring composition or ‘epic regression’ as a way of supplying background information for something discussed in the narrative. First an event is mentioned briefly, then its precedents are reviewed in reverse chronological order as far back as necessary; at that point the narrative reverses itself and moves forward in chronological order until the event in the main narrative line is reached again."^[3]

Various chiastic structures are also seen in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran.

Chiastic structures also appear in Ancient Greek sculpture. The contrapposto technique of sculpture in Ancient Greek sculpture often lead to this chiastic structure, such as in the Diadumenos of Polykleitos.

Etymology

When read left to right, up to down, the first topic (A) is reiterated as the last, and the middle concept (B) appears twice in succession. (Also, the middle concept could appear just once.)

The term chiastic derives from the mid-17th century term chiasmus, which refers to a crosswise arrangement of concepts or words that are repeated in reverse order. Chiasmus derives from the Greek word khiasmos, a word that is khiazein, marked with the letter khi. From khi comes chi.^[4]

Chi is made up of two lines crossing each other as in the shape of an X. The line that starts leftmost on top, comes down, and is rightmost on the bottom, and vice versa. If one thinks of the lines as concepts, one sees that concept A, which comes first, is also last, and concept B, which comes after A, comes before A. If one adds in more lines representing other concepts, one gets a chiastic structure with more concepts. See Proverbs 1:20-33; vs 20-21=A, v 22=B, v 23=C, vs 24-25=D, vs 26-28=E, vs 29-30=D', v 31=C', v 32=B', v 33=A'.^[5]

Mnemonic device

Oral literature is especially rich in chiastic structure, possibly as an aid to memorization. In his study of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Cedric Whitman, for instance, finds a chiastic structure "of the most amazing virtuosity" that simultaneously performed both aesthetic and mnemonic functions, permitting the oral poet to easily recall the basic formulae of the composition during performances.^[6]

Use in Hebrew Bible

In 1986, William H. Shea proposed that the Book of Daniel is composed of a double-chiasm. He argued that the chiastic structure is emphasized by the two languages that the book is written in: Aramaic and Hebrew. The first chiasm is written in Aramaic from chapters 2-7 following an ABC...CBA pattern. The second chiasm is in Hebrew from chapters 8-12, also using the ABC...CBA pattern. However, Shea represents Daniel 9:26 as "D", a break in the center of the pattern.^[7]

Gordon Wenham has analyzed the Genesis Flood narrative and has shown that it is essentially an elaborate chiasm.^[8] Based on the earlier study of grammatical structure by F. I. Andersen,^[9] Wenham illustrated a chiastic structure as displayed in the following two tables.

Within this overall structure, there is a numerical mini-chiasm of 7s, 40s, and 150s:

The two mentions of the 150 days refer to the same period, and the first 40 days (7:13,17) are part of the 150 days. All this is consistent with the date in 8:4. There was no compelling reason to repeat the first 7-day figure of waiting to enter the Ark except for the corresponding two 7-day figures for the dove. The second mention of the 150 days was also because of the chiasmus. The chiastic structure explains the repetition of these figures. Before these ancient literary conventions were recognized, followers of the Documentary Hypothesis explained the repetition by hypothesizing two different authors or redactors (J or Jahwist and P or Priestly sources). The repetition may also show the literary artistry of a single author or editor, either working from one tradition or weaving together the J and P sources in chiastic fashion.

Use in the Quran

While there are many examples of chiastic structure in the Quran, perhaps the most well known is in the 'Verse of the Throne' or 'Ayat al-Kursi'. The verse contains 9 sentences which exhibit chiasmus, but perhaps more interesting is that it is found in the longest chapter of the Quran, Al-Baqara, which itself contains a fractal chiastic structure in its 286 verses, i.e. where each (outer) chiasm is composed of (inner) chiastic structures reflected in some sense in the analogue outer chiasm. One such analysis of the chapter is shown below (from ^[10]; alternate and/or more detail analyses can be found in ^[11], ^[12], ^[13]).

Muhammad Rizvi, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has identified chapter-wide chiastic structures in Sura al-Yasin, Sura al-Zukhruf, Sura al-Faatir, Sura al-Qalam, Sura al-Muzammil, and other chapters of the Quran ^[14].

Use in Book of Mormon

Chaism in 3 Nephi 5 - Covenant Promises of Jacob

A: as surely as the Lord liveth (3 Nephi 5:24)

B: gather in from the four quarters of the earth (3 Nephi 5:24)

C: restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant (3 Nephi 5:25)

C': then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 5:26)

B': gathered in from the four quarters of the earth unto their own land (3 Nephi 5:26)

A': as the Lord liveth (3 Nephi 5:26)

Chaism in Alma 36 - The Conversion of Alma

A: inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land (Alma 36:1)

B: remembering the captivity of our fathers (Alma 36:2)

C: whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials (Alma 36:3)

D:

I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul (Alma 36:12)

I remembered...the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world (Alma 36:17)

O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me (Alma 36:19)

I could remember my pains no more (Alma 36:19)

D':

C': I have been supported under trials (Alma 36:27)

B': delivered them out of bondage and captivity (Alma 36:29)

A': inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land (Alma 36:30)

ABC…CBA pattern

See also

• Arch form
• Antimetabole
• Chiasmus

References

Sources

• Garrett, Duane A. (1993). Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of songs. The New American Commentary, v. 14. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press. ISBN 0-8054-0114-8. OCLC 27895425.
• Niles, John D. (1979). "Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf". PMLA. Modern Language Association. 94 (5): 924–35. doi:10.2307/461974. JSTOR 461974.
• Shea, William H. (1986). "The Prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27". In Holbrook, Frank. The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus, and the Nature of Prophecy. Daniel and Revelation Committee Series. 3. Washington, D.C.: Biblical Research Institute, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. OCLC 14279279.

Further reading

• Breck, John (1994). The Shape of Biblical Language: Chiasmus in the Scriptures and Beyond. Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-8814-1139-3. OCLC 30893460.
• Dorsey, David A. (1999), The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, ISBN 0801021871, OCLC 42002627
• Douglas, Mary (2007). Thinking in Circles: an essay on ring composition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16785-6.
• Ehrman, Bart D. (1993), The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: the effect of early Christological controversies on the text of the New Testament, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195080785, OCLC 26354078
• Lund, Nils Wilhelm (1942), Chiasmus in the New Testament, a study in formgeschichte, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, OCLC 2516087
• Martin, Gary D. (2004), Ring Composition and Related Phenomena in Herodotus (PDF)
• McCoy, Brad (Fall 2003), "Chiasmus: An Important Structural Device Commonly Found in Biblical Literature" (PDF), CTS Journal, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Chafer Theological Seminary, 9 (2): 18–34
• Parry, Donald W. (2007) [1998], Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon (PDF) (Revised ed.), Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, ISBN 978-0-934893-36-7
• Prewitt, Terry J. (1990), The Elusive Covenant: A Structural-Semiotic Reading of Genesis, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253345995, OCLC 20827915
• Ramirez, Matthew Eric (January 2011). "Descanting on Deformity: The Irregularities in Shakespeare's Large Chiasms". Text and Performance Quarterly. 31 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/10462937.2010.526240.
• Welch, John W. (1995), "Criteria for Identifying and Evaluating the Presence of Chiasmus", Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 4 (2)
• Welch, John W. (1999) [1981], Chiasmus in antiquity: structures, analyses, exegesis, Provo, Utah: Research Press, ISBN 0934893330, OCLC 40126818