Structural Secrets: Shakespeare's Complex Chiasmus

Davis, William L., Style

1. Introduction

In 1753, Robert Lowth, D.D., Bishop of London and the former Professor of Poetry at New College, Oxford, published a series of lectures on biblical Hebrew texts that permanently altered the fundamental approach to modern biblical interpretation.1 Noting a frequently recurring pattern of related phrases set into adjoining positions in the text, he "coined the phrase parallelismus membrorum ('the parallelism of the clauses')" (Kuge 112) to describe these forms and subsequently triggered a major paradigm shift in Hebrew translation and the understanding of biblical structure. Yet, even though he identified these structures, and even recognized complex arrangements of …

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Publication information: Article title: Structural Secrets: Shakespeare's Complex Chiasmus. Contributors: Davis, William L. - Author. Journal title: Style. Volume: 39. Issue: 3 Publication date: Fall 2005. Page number: 237+. © 1998 Northern Illinois University. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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