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Parallelism

Rhetorical Devices
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Parallelism repeats a grammatical pattern in nearby words, phrases, or clauses. It links ideas through similar structure and creates rhythm, balance, or emphasis.

Detailed Definition
Parallelism places related thoughts in matching or comparable syntactic forms, such as a series of verbs, phrases, or clauses built on the same pattern. The repetition of structure makes connections visible: ideas may reinforce one another, develop in sequence, or stand in sharp contrast. Poets use parallelism to organize complex feeling, establish chant-like music, and give a passage rhetorical momentum. Because readers can anticipate the returning form, parallelism makes language memorable while allowing subtle changes in meaning to carry special force.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I will rise at dawn, I will walk at dawn, I will sing at dawn,” repeating a grammatical structure; “The river carries leaves, the river carries boats, the river carries dreams,” aligning clauses; “To forgive is to heal, to remember is to learn, to hope is to begin,” using parallel infinitive phrases; “She feared the night, she feared the sea, she feared herself,” repeating syntax to build intensity
Additional Notes
Parallelism can organize a poem’s argument and make repeated ideas easier to hear and remember. Repeated structure need not mean repeated wording; variation within a pattern can create development or surprise.
Other Meanings of “Parallelism”
Also Known As
Syntactic Parallelism Balanced Structure Grammatical Repetition Parallel Construction
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