Parallelism (rhetoric)

The parallelism (Greek παραλληλισμός: " juxtaposition ") is a figure of style, which is caused by parallel syntax, that is, two ( or more ) consecutive same record types ( major, minor, interrogative sentence, etc.) or subsets have the same sequence of their parts of a sentence (subject, predicate, object, adverbial, etc.). Additional literal repetitions often reinforce the impression of parallelism, but are not absolutely necessary (see below the Heine- quote). The parallelism can have a tautological or antithetical function. He finds himself as a key principle in both the ancient poetry as well as in modern poetry.

Examples of parallelisms

  • Bible ( Sirach 5:15) For speeches brings honor speeches but also brings shame. ( Antithesis )
  • O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ( Tautology )
  • Erich Kästner You heard far and wide, they look away.
  • The night is dark, the day is bright
  • I am beautiful, you're ugly.
  • I 'm rich, you're poor.
  • Heinrich Heine The shuttle flies, the loom crashes. ( The Silesian Weavers )

The parallelism in biblical texts

The parallelism is a very frequently encountered stylistic devices in the poetic texts of the Old Testament. This style means it is thanks to them that some, can be recognized because Textentstellung, Abschreibfehlern, etc. difficult to translate points, but fairly certain, since the parallel part preserved of the verse allows clear conclusions on the corrupt portion of the text. The special feature of parallelism in the Hebrew Scriptures from the Bible is that it is less dependent on a rhyme sound (as in German ), but the content ( the purpose statement ) is important. This is an advantage when translating the text into another language.

Synonymous parallelism

In synonymous parallelism the second line the same direction of the first, in other words there again. Phrases in the first movement have thus directly equivalents. Here an example: "The law of the Lord " corresponds to " The testimony of the Lord ", " perfect" matches " reliable" and " restoring the soul " matches " makes wise the simple ." ( A simpleton here is someone who is open to anything. For both the good and for evil. )

Synthetic parallelism

For the synthetic parallelism the statement is combined in the first sentence with the second (synthesized ). The result is a new statement. In this example an answer to a question.

Antithetic parallelism

When antithetic parallelism the statement in the first sentence with the second statement stands opposite. In the example: First movement: state of the past. Second sentence: state of the present.

In a broader sense of parallelism is the principle of equivalence in phonetics, meaning and structure. It manifests itself in the rhythmic repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables in recurring same number of syllables in the rhyme, assonance and displays its activity, for example, in the symmetry of metaphor and nichtmetaphorischem expression.

633069
de