Question

What is the purpose of chiasmus?

Answer 1

Hint: In several languages, chiasmus is considered to be a poetic as well as a tactical device. The name comes from Greek where chiasmus meant ‘X-shaped’. This device "crosses" the arrangement of two phrases by using a specific structure in the first phrase and then in the second phrase, reverses the structure.

Complete answer:
Chiasmus can be found in all types of literature, including books, speeches, lyrics of a song, and theatrical dialogues. However, it is most often associated with poetry. A chiasmus is a two-part sentence or expression in which the second part mirrors the first. The ideas and pieces of expression are essentially replicated.
Examples for chiasmus look like this;
“I gave all my love to her, she stole my heart!” [Here technically the two parts of the sentence which are before and after the comma are very much the same, but due to the usage of different words, we see a kind of emphasis given to the person’s love for another.]
“I might be the worst, but I am the best.” [Here we see that the same person is described as ‘worst’ and ‘best’ which are contrasting words.]
 “Reya can leave the camp, but the camp won’t leave her.” [To emphasis the effect of the ‘camp’ on ‘Reya’ chiasmus is used.]

Chiasmus, like many other rhetorical devices, serves as a fancy way of placing sentences. It does not change the substance of what is said; it simply delivers it in a more visually appealing bundle. This is because a fancy text can be especially effective because it is more likely to stick in a reader's mind, while plain line prose could be overlooked and forgotten.

So the major purposes of chiasmus could be;
- In order to write an insightful sentence in a way that people remember it.
- Also as it makes poetry a better structure.
- Emphasis can be easily provided by incorporating chiasmic structures into one’s literary work.
- In chiasmic structures since a form of repetition takes place, people tend to ponder over it and understand it better.
- In some other cases in order to give contrasting meanings in a single phrase, we can use this structure.

Note: A chiasmus has a basic structure, but it can be difficult to perfect at first. Compose the first part of the sentence, and then switch a few words around for the second part. After seeing several examples of chiasmus systems, this becomes simpler.