Pattern Analysis for Genesis 9:8-17

Within Pattern Analysis, rhetoric is the persuasive portion of a literary unit based on its structure. Certain locations within each literary unit are potentially persuasive–they are presented below for the sake of analysis. Normally, many of the potential locations can be persuasive, but often not all. The student is encouraged to listen to what the Holy Spirit seems to be emphasizing.

The imperfect form of the chiasm is a powerful literary device that uses an asymmetric imbalance to bring emphasis on a portion of the structure. An imperfect chiasm is seen when an extra or absence is presented (such as A-C-D-D'-C'-B'-A'), or a transposition (A-B-C-X-C'-A'-B') is detected. The place of imperfection is almost always emphatic.

A summarization that appears near the beginning portion of a structure. For example, SUM-A-B-C-A'-B'-C'. It is similar to a closing summary which is also represented by a SUM. The opening summary should be considered emphatic.

In a chiasm, these are the two A elements: A-B-C-C'-B'-A'. Oftentimes an emphasis may be found in these locations.

An emphasis or turning point that is at the logical center of a structure. It is either an X in the middle of a chiasm, parallel symmetry, immediate repetition, or list is a center point, or if two elements appear at the center of a chiasm rather than an X, those two elements are the center point. For example, X is the center point of A-B-C-X-A'-B'-C', and C-C' is the center point of A-B-C-C'-B'-A'.

An opening or closing summarization that appears within a substructure. The schematic representation is the lowercase letters sum. This summarization may appear at the end of a substructure, a-b-x-a'-b'-sum, or at the beginning, sum-a-b-c-d. All the substructure summaries are emphatic.

In a chiasm, these are the two A elements: A-B-C-C'-B'-A'. Oftentimes an emphasis may be found in these locations.

An element was intentionally inserted into one of the two parts. For example, the C element in A-B-C-D-D'-B'-A'. Does not have a corresponding C' element, which means C is an extra. This anomaly only applies to chiastic and parallel symmetry structures. The extra is a place of rhetorical importance, whereas the corresponding element is missing.

Also known as conjugate pairs. It is any two elements that are paired with each other. In some cases, the pair may be emphatic even though they are not in a position of emphasis such as first/first or first/last. For example, in a chiastic A-B-C-X-C'-B'-A' structure, the two B elements might add considerable conviction to the reader or listener.

An emphasis or turning point that is at the logical center of a structure. It is either an X in the middle of a chiasm, parallel symmetry, immediate repetition, or list is a center point, or if two elements appear at the center of a chiasm rather than an X, those two elements are the center point. For example, X is the center point of A-B-C-X-A'-B'-C', and C-C' is the center point of A-B-C-C'-B'-A'.