Parallelism (rhetoric)
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Parallelism means to give two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern.
Parallelisms of various sorts are the chief rhetorical device of Biblical poetry in Hebrew.
In addition, Chinese Poetry uses parallelism in its first form. In a parallel couplet not only must the content, the parts of speech, the mythological and historico- geographical allusions, be all separately matched and balanced, but most of the tones must also be paired reciprocally. Even tones are conjoined with inflected ones, and vice versa. (from http://www.chinavista.com/culture/letters/poetry/home.html)
[edit] Examples
"We charge him with having broken his coronation-oath - and we are told that he kept his marriage-vow! We accuse him of having given up his people to the merciless inflictions of the most hard-hearted of prelates - and the defense is that he took his little son on his knee and kissed him. We censure him for having violated the Petition of Right - and we are informed that he was accustomed to hear prayers at six o'clock in the morning." (Macaulay)
"In a democracy we are all equal before the law. In a dictatorship we are all equal before the police." (Fernandes)
“Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered).” (Julius Caesar)
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessing; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." (Churchill)
"But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." (Amos)
