Parallelism (rhetoric)

Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern. This structure is particularly effective when "specifying or enumerating pairs or series of like things".^[1] A scheme of balance, parallelism represents "one of the basic principles of grammar and rhetoric".^[2]

Parallelism as a rhetorical device is used in many languages and cultures around the world in poetry, epics, songs, written prose and speech, from the folk level to the professional. An entire issue of the journal Oral Tradition has been devoted to articles on parallelism in languages from all over.^[3] It is very often found in Biblical poetry and in proverbs in general.