Learn English – the name of the stylistic device where you begin and end a text with the same metaphor

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There is a stylistic device where you begin and end a text with the same metaphor. I'm sorry I don't have a "real-world" example in English, but I'll try to describe what I mean.

Let's say there's an article on software development. The article begins by likening the development process it to the construction of a car. Then it goes on talking about software, and in the last phrase it goes back to the car metaphor, achieving a "closure" effect.

Is there a proper name for this?

Best Answer

There is a device that often appears in Hebrew writings known as chiastic structure. Essentially it extends chiasmus (a common literary device that relates clauses in criss-cross fashion—think "the first shall be last and the last shall be first") to an entire passage. It is particularly common in Old Testament writing. Another word used to mean chiastic structure is palistrophe.

For example, a palistrophe or chiastic structure may have the form ABCDEDCBA, meaning that an idea A is presented, followed by an idea B, and so on. Thus the first idea presented is also the last. Other chiastic structures are possible, but they are still structured so that the first and last ideas are the same (or, at the very least, similar).

I think chiastic structure appropriately describes what you are seeking.

Added: a link to a picture of the chiastic structure of Genesis 6–9 for reference.