In rhetoric, antimetabole is a figure of speech involving the repetition of words in successive clauses but in reversed order, such as "I know what I like, and I like what I know." It is closely related to and sometimes considered a special case of chiasmus. Antimetaboles are often used to create emphasis or memorable expressions, making the statement more engaging and easier to recall. This structure can also be predictive, encouraging deeper reflection by highlighting the reversible nature of the terms involved, thereby adding rhetorical impact beyond simply stating one side of an idea.
Etymology
It is derived from the Greek ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ), from ἀντί (antí, 'against, opposite') and μεταβολή (metabolḗ, 'turning about, change').
Examples
- "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" ("One for all, all for one")
- "Eat to live, do not live to eat." —Socrates (presumably)
- "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 2:272
- "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 X3
- "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 Douglass4
- "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, Macbeth5
- "And we'll lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example." —Joe Biden, 2021 inaugural address6
- "All crime is vulgar, just as all vulgarity is crime" —Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray7
- "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 Magazine8
See also
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
External links
Look up antimetabole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.- Audio examples of antimetabole at americanrhetoric.com
- Lapidos, Juliet (September 5, 2008). "The Hottest Rhetorical Device of Campaign '08". Slate.com. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
- Lapidos, Juliet (September 19, 2008). "The Old Switcheroo". On The Media. National Public Radio. Archived from the original on October 23, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
- Antimetabole detector at lingfil.uu.se
References
Fahnestock, Jeanne (1999). Rhetorical Figures in Science. Oxford University Press. pp. 123–134. ↩
"Mark 2:23-28 NIV". Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%202:23-28&version=NIV ↩
"Malcolm X: Speech excerpt "Ballot or the Bullet"". https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C2787250 ↩
Douglass, Frederick (1995). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 13. ISBN 0-486-28499-9. 0-486-28499-9 ↩
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Act I, Scene 1, 12. /wiki/Macbeth ↩
"Inauguration Speech". The New York Times. US Capitol. January 20, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/biden-inauguration-speech-transcript.html ↩
Wilde, Oscar (2000). The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin Classics. p. 203. ↩
"Read the Full Transcript of President Joe Biden's Interview With TIME". Times Magazine. The White House. May 28, 2024. https://time.com/6984968/joe-biden-transcript-2024-interview/ ↩