PARALLELISM

views updated

PARALLELISM. In RHETORIC, a device in which a formula or structural pattern is repeated, as in the LATIN sequence veni, vidi, vici and its English translation I came, I saw, I conquered. It occurs in sayings and proverbs (such as Now you see them, now you don't and Out of sight, out of mind), and in verse and poetic prose (‘My mother groaned, my father wept— / Into the dangerous world I leapt’ ( William Blake, Songs of Experience)). See ANTITHESIS, REPETITION.