Antimetabole

In rhetoric, antimetabole (/æntməˈtæbəliː/ AN-ti-mə-TAB-ə-lee) is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order (e.g., "I know what I like, and I like what I know"). It is similar to chiasmus although chiasmus does not use repetition of the same words or phrases.

Examples

• "Eat to live, not live to eat." Attributed to Socrates
• Latin: Miser ex potente fiat ex misero potens Seneca the Younger, Thyestes, Act I.10 (let it make misery from power and power from misery).
• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
• "You stood up for America, now America must stand up for you." [Barack Obama] - December 14, 2011.

Etymology

It is derived from the Greek ἀντιμεταβολή from ἀντί (antí), "against, opposite" and μεταβολή (metabolē), "turning about, change".

See also

• Figure of speech
• Rhetoric
• Russian reversal
• Chiasmus

References

• Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.

External links

• Audio illustrations of antimetabole
• Examples in U.S.A politics.
• NPR story