Today’s Quote is a short poem by T. S. Eliot. It is the closest I have come to finding an embodiment of internal mirroring, or of the so called chiasmus.
A chiasmus, pronounced /kʌɪˈazməs/, from the Greek word meaning crossing or diagonal arrangement, is a figure of speech that repeats two ideas or grammatical structures in inverted order.
At its simplest and silliest it adds no meaning:
He dreams of success, and of success he dreams.
(Although, there are examples where this special case of chiasmus, also sometimes called antimetabole, is made to work to splendid effect; an oft-cited example is John F. Kennedy’s United Nations Speech in 1961, when he said: Mankind must put an end to war—or war will put an end to mankind. It’s clever, and it’s not something you come up with on the spot.)
Beyond the simplest inversion, chiasmus can use parallel word pairs to add meaning:
Loving is a celebration of life, just as living is a celebration of love.
Or it can pun on different meanings of a word:
The novel must be written, but also the writing must be novel.
At its most advanced, an extended chiasmus can invert ideas and images on a larger scale. Here is the poem; see if you can spot a chiasmus or two.
Eyes That Last I Saw in Tears by T. S. Eliot
Eyes that last I saw in tears
Through division
Here in death’s dream kingdom
The golden vision reappears
I see the eyes but not the tears
This is my afflictionThis is my affliction
Eyes I shall not see again
Eyes of decision
Eyes I shall not see unless
At the door of death’s other kingdom
Where, as in this,
The eyes outlast a little while
A little while outlast the tears
And hold us in derision.
What makes the Quote quiver?
Clever, imperfect symmetry that allows for a sense of progression from one side to the other.
A Quiver Of Quotes 