<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 clauses are presented to the reader or hearer, then presented again in reverse order, in order to make a larger point . To diagram a simple chiasmus, the clauses are often labelled in the form 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 clauses' your country':' you' are reversed in the second half of the sentence to' you':' your country' . This is often used to invite the reader or hearer to reconsider the relationship between the repeated clauses . </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 . As a popular 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 Quran . </P>

Ask not what your country can do for you literary device