Merism

Merism refers to a way of communicating completeness through paired terms that represent opposite ends of a spectrum, such as “heaven and earth” or “young and old.” Rather than listing every element, the text uses these contrasting parts to stand for the whole. Merism appears in poetry, narrative, and instruction as a compact way to convey scope or universality. Its meaning depends on shared understanding that the named extremes imply inclusion of all intermediate elements, allowing broad ideas to be expressed efficiently and clearly.