Parallelism

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 The above quote by Abraham Lincoln is an example of what is called parallelism. 

Parallelism is a way to create patterns within your writing. This can of course be used in prose as well as poetry. Parallelism can be created by using the same grammatical structure in a series of sentences, and it can be created by having a series of lists. In the case of lists, if you have three things listed in the first sentence, you have to have three things listed in the second sentence for them to be truly in parallel. 

In the Lincoln's sentence, there are three sets of parallels, which are as follows:

• You can
• you cannot

• all [of] the people
• some of the people
• all [of] the people

• some of the time
• all of the time
• all of the time

It's a memorable phrase because of its parallel structure and contrasts. It is poetic, meaningful, and memorable--things you certainly should want in your writing.

It has been pointed out that in my fiction, I love to use parallelism. It is, apparently, part of my natural aesthetic. Take, for example, this section from one of my own short stories:

Kay crept to his side, finding the fly first, watched it walking across a leaf on the wax plant. Then she searched the tank for the archer fish, finding it right under the fly. The back of the fish tank was left open in case an insect made the mistake of crawling on the edge of the tank, the shelf decorated with African violets overhanging it, of the trailing wax plant. The black-striped silver fish stalked the surface, looking up, watching the fly. Oblivious, the fly felt its way across the leaf, tasting it with its feet. The fish watched the fly, trying to get lined up.

Let me now put the sentences in question in a list to show the grammatical parallels:

Kay crept to his side, finding the fly first, watched it walking across a leaf on the wax plant. 

Then she searched the tank for the archer fish, finding it right under the fly. 

The black-striped silver fish stalked the surface, looking up, watching the fly. 

Oblivious, the fly felt its way across the leaf, tasting it with its feet. 

The fish watched the fly, trying to get lined up.

Notice that in each of these sentences--all but one in this section--we have a subject, a past tense verb, followed by a comma, followed by a progressive verb. 

• Kay crept, finding
• she searched, finding
• fish stalked, looking
• fly felt, tasting
• fish watched, trying

I managed to prevent this section from feeling repetitive by including some variety in my sentences in addition to the parallel structures. The last thing you want to do is make the parallelism too repetitive. This draws you from artistic to inartistic. Remember that beauty involves the use of unity and variety simultaneously. 

(As an aside, notice that the first sentence also has alliteration--Kay crept, finding the fly first--and there is of course continued alliteration of "fish" and "fly.")

Later in the same story, I used a kind of grammatical/list parallelism:

He picked one out, burned his fingers, and dropped it, then blew across the seeds to cool them and tried again. He tasted it, added some salt, shook the seeds, then tasted another one and nodded. 

• picked, burned, dropped, then blew and tried
• tasted, added, shook, then tasted and nodded

Each kind of parallel structure creates a pattern. Humans are pattern-creating and pattern-seeking creatures, and when we notice a pattern, we attribute meaning to the pattern. Patterns can create different kinds of moods--think about the calming effect of small waves breaking on the shore, or waves of grass in a field when the wind is blowing--and evoke different kinds of emotions. In the parallelisms I created above, there is likely a satisfying, calming effect. However, I could have a parallel between two characters, with contrasting feelings or attitudes or actions, and create a feeling of tension or anxiety. 

While these are examples in prose, I also have a poem that uses parallelism in the last line of each stanza:

The cypress and the willow weep the pond full--
The sorrows of all they have seen slowly drip
Off their long, light, green branches and leaves.
Sadness fills the pond.

Dusk calls the loons to fill the sky with their calls--

Such sad calls from water's mirror surface spread

Through the woods and echo off the mountainsides. 

Sadness haunts the woods.

The evening's mourning doves give way to gray owls,

Whose deep, full, sorrowful songs cause cool shivers

To spread through everything small, creeping, and warm.

Fear fills the dark woods.

As morning breaks, I wander. beside the pond--

My skin is clammy in the dew. The crickets

Chirp their last, and I find that I still miss her.

Fear haunts my sadness.

• Sadness fills
• Sadness haunts
• Fear fills
• Fear haunts

What kind of emotional effect does this use of parallelism create in you?