PARALLELISM

CREATE A RHYTHM There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call…The Twilight Zone.

Between the past and the future, between sanity and madness, between dreams and reality, lies the mystery of the 12 Monkeys.

Where thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.

Literal repetition Grammatical repetition Literal & grammatical repetition

LITERAL REPETITION = ECHO OR TRANCE Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car, and I dented it? I thought you’d kill me, but you didn’t. And remember the time I dragged you to the beach, and you said it would rain, and it did? I thought you’d say, “I told you so,” but you didn’t. Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over you rug? I though you’d hit me, but you didn’t. Remember the time I forgot to tell you that the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans. I thought you’d drop me, but you didn’t. Yes, there were lots of things you didn’t do. But you put up with me, and you loved me, and you protected me. There were lots of things I wanted to make up to you when you returned from Vietnam. But you didn’t.

It was all so clear now. She knew who had killed Sylvia. It was someone who hated her, someone who had been a friend of hers, someone who never forgave her for how she had treated him, someone from high school, someone who knew her old nickname was Syl. It was Bruce Crystal.

GRAMMATICAL REPETITION Over the river, through the woods, to grandmother’s house, we go. Ambition inspired his journey. Nature changed his destiny.

COMBO The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. In his nightmare he can see them. In his mind he can hear them. In his soul he can feel them. Now in earth’s darkest hour, he must fight them again.

STAR TREK These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. We have a five-year mission. We’re going to explore strange new worlds and look for new life and perhaps new civilizations. We will go boldly where no one else has gone before.

PERIODIC SENTENCES = DRUM ROLL, CONTROL THE READER’S EYES! Rising at him from the darkling blue – slowly, smoothly – came the shark. vs. The shark rose toward him slowly, smoothly from the darkling blue.

PERIODIC 2 It could happen only in Brooklyn. Nowhere else in this broad, untidy universe, not in Bedlam, not in Babel, nor in the remotest psychopathic ward, nor the sleaziest padded cell could The Thing be. Only in the ancestral home of the Dodgers which knew the goofy glories of Babe Herman could a man win a World Series game by striking out.

PRACTICE You write a periodic, parallel sentence.

EXPAND PARALLELISM TO PARAGRAPHS This sentence has five words. This if five words too. Five words sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals, and sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

HOMEWORK Select ONE picture from the internet or a magazine. (Action shots will make it easier!) Write a paragraph describing the image using various methods of parallelism.