What rhetorical device is used in this quote: "A king before, but now a beaten warrior."?

1 Answer
Elijah T.
Feb 3, 2017

A combination of contrast and chiasmus. There might be more.

Explanation:

Contrast: King Vs Beaten Warrior and Before Vs Now. The sentence combines opposite ideas to highlight the differences.

Chiasmus: The sentence structure is ABBA, or reverse parallel. If the sentence was parallel, then the sentence would (reversely) read, "Before a king, but now a beaten warrior."

Combined, both literary devices draw attention to the vast change that has occurred to this fallen king over time.

Related questions
See all questions in Literary Devices
Impact of this question
1637 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License