<P> In rhetoric, chiasmus or, less commonly, chiasm (Latin term from Greek χίασμα, "crossing", from the Greek χιάζω, chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ") is the figure of speech in which two or more phrases are presented, then presented again in reverse order to make a larger point . To diagram a simple chiasmus, the phrases are often labelled ABB A. For example, John F. Kennedy said, "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". The initial phrases your country: you are reversed in the second half of the sentence to you: your country . This is often used to urge the audience to reconsider the relationship between the repeated phrases . </P> <P> In chiasmus, the clauses display inverted parallelism . Chiasmus was particularly popular in the literature of the ancient world, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text . For example, many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible . It is also found throughout the Book of Mormon and the Quran . </P>

Ask not what your country can do for your figure of speech