Chiastic structure

Here the idea that introduced a compositional section is repeated at its conclusion, so that the whole passage is framed by material of identical content".

[7] Steve Reece has demonstrated several ambitious ring compositions in Homer's Odyssey and compared their aesthetic and mnemonic functions with those of several South Slavic songs.

A': Noah and his sons (9:18,19a) Within this overall structure, there is a numerical mini-chiasm of 7s, 40s, and 150s: α': Second seven days waiting for dove (8:12) William Ramey has compiled several chiasms in the Hebrew Bible, including Genesis 17:1–25 (quoted in Donald Ostrowski 2006).

[14] Form critic Nils Lund acknowledged Jewish and classical patterns of writing in the New Testament, including the use of chiastic structures throughout.

The verse contains 9 sentences which exhibit chiasmus, but perhaps more interesting is that it is found in the longest chapter of the Quran, Al-Baqara, which itself contains a fractal chiastic structure in its 286 verses, i.e. where each (outer) chiasm is composed of (inner) chiastic structures reflected in some sense in the analogue outer chiasm.

A': Belief (285-286) Donald Ostrowski (2006) identified two chiastic structures within the Primary Chronicle (PVL) account of Volodimer's conversion.

A': 'Volodimer sends envoys out to report on the religions of the people they visit'[20] A': 'Volodimer is baptized on Anna's instruction and regains his sight'[23] Chiastic structure is found throughout the Book of Mormon, for example in Mosiah 5:8–9:[24]: 171 In literary texts with a possible oral origin, such as Beowulf, chiastic or ring structures are often found on an intermediate level, that is, between the (verbal and/or grammatical) level of chiasmus and the higher level of chiastic structure such as noted in the Torah.

To illustrate, he analyzes Prologue and Epilogue as follows: Prologue A: Panegyric for Scyld Epilogue A': Eulogy for Beowulf[28] The overall chiastic structure of John Milton's Paradise Lost is also of the ABC...CBA type: A: Satan's sinful actions (Books 1–3) A': Humankind's sinful actions (Books 10–12)[29]: 141

Example of a ring structure in the Quran
A black cross on a white background. Clockwise at each point of the cross are the letters A, B, A, B.
When read left to right, top to bottom, the first topic (A) is reiterated as the last, and the middle concept (B) appears twice in succession. (Also, the middle concept could appear just once.)