Repetition of a word for emphasis

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In rhetoric, epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis.^[1] A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.^[2]

As a rhetorical device, epizeuxis is utilized to create an emotional appeal, thereby inspiring and motivating the audience. However, epizeuxis can also be used for comic effect.^[3]

Examples[edit]

• «Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.»—Winston Churchill
• «Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time…»—Macbeth
• «The horror, the horror»—Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
• «Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotchy, scotchy scotch.»—Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• «Well, Well, Well,…» — John Lennon, Well Well Well

See also[edit]

• Anaphora
• Diacope
• Contrastive focus reduplication

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Text and Audio illustrations of epizeuxis

Asked by: Jody Roob

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Writers use epizeuxis as a way to emphasize or underline a word or phrase, increasing its power and memorability.

What effect does epizeuxis have on the reader?

As a literary device, it furnishes freshness to the texts, and gives artistic effect to a piece. Apart from adding rhythm to the texts, epizeuxis makes the reading of the literary text pleasurable and memorable. Also, it helps in drawing the focus to a particular thought, idea, or emotion through repetition.

What is repetition used for in writing?

Repetition is a favored tool among orators because it can help to emphasize a point and make a speech easier to follow. It also adds to the powers of persuasion—studies show that repetition of a phrase can convince people of its truth. Writers and speakers also use repetition to give words rhythm.

Why would an author’s use an anaphora?

The main reason an author/playwright uses anaphora is for emphasis. When the character repeats a certain phrase, that draws the reader’s attention to that phrase and helps us realize that it is important. So anaphora draws the reader’s attention to something that the author thought was important.

What is an epizeuxis in literature?

Epizeuxis, in literature, a form of repetition in which a word is repeated immediately for emphasis, as in the first and last lines of “Hark, Hark!

34 related questions found

Emphasis is when a particular stress or importance is given to something. Many exceptions to grammatical rules in English relate to emphasising particular words or ideas, making it a very important and also very broad topic. Structure, word order, vocabulary choice, formatting and punctuation can all be used to add emphasis.

Punctuation and Formatting

The simplest way to add emphasis in writing is to use punctuation, such as the exclamation point (!) for dramatic sentences, or formatting, such as using italics, to draw attention to particular words or phrases.

• The results were in. She had won by one vote!
• We only work on Wednesdays. (emphasising the limited time-frame)
• We only work on Wednesdays. (emphasising the specific day)

Some texts use bold, underlining or CAPITALS instead of italics. This has become particularly flexible online. Whatever style you choose, it is important to be consistent.

Expanding abbreviations or contractions can also add emphasis:

• We don’t repair computers. -> We do not repair computers.

Commas can be used to emphasise a particular word or phrase as an interjection, slowing a sentence down and making a word or phrase stand out. This can also be done with dashes instead of commas.

• We ran, terrified, through the house.
• We ran – terrified – through the house.

Additional information can be added in this way to tell us something when it is most striking.

• The trees, blue and purple all over, did not look healthy. (emphasising an unusual detail)
• She finished the papers, all the papers, by nightfall. (emphasising the extent of the task)

Be careful not to over-complicate the sentence, which can break the flow, or reduce clarity.

Structural Emphasis

Any variation in a text’s regular structure can add emphasis. For example, an occasional contrastingly short sentence can draw attention to a particular piece of information or for dramatic effect:

There will be no football practice on Monday as we are filling holes in the pitch. Practice will resume as usual on Tuesday. Be there.

The above example’s closing comment is surprisingly forceful. A similar effect could be created with a short sentence in the middle of a paragraph, or a short paragraph in between two long paragraphs.

On the other hand, longer sentences can add emphasis in a text with lots of short sentences:

Barry was only six. He did not know much. He could not count past twenty. One thing he did know, though, was that the brand new Intergalactic Space Fleet Ray Gun would be his.

Front Loading

Placing information earlier in a sentence or clause emphasises it. Sentences are often rearranged with adverbials or prepositional phrases that put information such as times, manners, objects, and locations before the subject and action. The phrase is moved forward and separated by a comma:

• We’ll be there by dinner time. → By dinner time, we’ll be there.
• She ate the soup messily. → Messily, she ate the soup.

This can be done with longer phrases or clauses.

• With messy flicks of the spoon and smacking lips, she ate the soup.

Rearranging clauses is often taught with complex sentences, where either the dependent or independent clause can come first. The first clause carries more emphasis:

• The game may be cancelled, depending on the weather.
• Depending on the weather, the game may be cancelled.

Repetition

Repetition of words and phrases adds emphasis in many ways. Throughout a text, repeated describing words (or similar describing words) can set an overall tone or bring to mind a certain image. Repetition of different word types draws attention to their function.

Repeated nouns or pronouns emphasise a particular person or thing (who/what is doing an action):

• Riley stormed into the kitchen. Riley took the cakes and Riley ate them all herself. (emphasising who is to blame)

Repeated verbs emphasise a continuing action, often to indicate a long or repetitive task:

• We ran through the town, we ran through the hills, we ran over the bridge and we ran all the way past the castle. (emphasising the endurance of a long, ongoing action)

Repeated prepositions emphasise objects’ relationships to each other:

• The papers were in the office, in the drawer in your desk. (emphasising awareness of an object’s specific location)

Repeated adverbs or adverbials emphasise how something is done, drawing attention to timing or manner:

• He quickly looked in the mirror, quickly pulled out and quickly hit the other car.

Such uses are flexible and not limited to these ideas.

A Final Warning

There are many other techniques that can be used to add emphasis in writing, but one thing that all these techniques have in common is that they work because they are exceptions to the typical style, which need to be used strategically. Used too often, they lose their effect; used inappropriately, they can look like mistakes.

I hope this short guide helps. It’s also available as a (free) printable worksheet if you sign up to my mailing list. This article is an abridged introduction to different techniques for adding emphasis in writing, taken from my book Advanced Writing Skills for Students of English. The full chapter is about 3,000 words long, so if you’d like more information on such topics please do check out the book.

What is repetition? At its simplest, repetition is a word or phrase used multiple times in a text, for the purpose of emphasizing an emotion or idea. It might seem counterintuitive to repeat, repeat, repeat, but when wielded correctly, the repetition of words and phrases has powerful effects in literature.

You’re most likely to find examples of repetition in poetry, but both poetry and prose utilize the same devices, like epizeuxis, anadiplosis, and chiasmus. We’ll dive into those strange Greek words in a minute, but before dissecting the types of repetition, let’s properly define repetition in literature. What is repetition?

Repetition Definition

When a writer utilizes repetition, they’re putting multiple iterations of a word or phrase in close proximity to each other. In other words, a word or phrase is repeated to provide clarity and emphasis, highlighting deeper meanings in the text.

Repetition is an instance where a word or phrase is repeated to provide clarity and emphasis, highlighting deeper meanings in the text.

Now, repetition can be both subtle and obvious, and writers can get very creative about what those repeating words signify. For example, take this excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”:

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea.

In 11 words, “alone” is repeated 4 times, while “all” and “wide” are repeated twice each. Each word contributes its own importance to the poem. “All” emphasizes the intensity of the speaker’s aloneness, and while the word “alone” highlights the speaker’s solitude, “wide” highlights the vast amount of space between the speaker and anything else. The repetition here evokes the image of an insignificant dot floating in an endless nothingness—a loneliness without end.

It’s easy to find examples of repetition in poetry and in prose, but it’s much easier to execute repetition in poetry. Because poetry has greater freedom in syntax and structure, poets have more tools at their disposal to repeat themselves effectively.

Now, let’s take a look at the types of repetition in literature—both prose and poetry—before looking at more repetition examples in each genre.

10 Types of Repetition in Literature

Repetition literary devices have existed since the dawn of literature, and they were especially prominent in both Ancient Greece and Rome. These devices exist partially because of their emphatic value, and partially because literature was often retold orally, so repetition helped storytellers remember “what comes next” as they recited their work.

As such, the following devices all have Greek names. For the modern English speaker, this makes remembering each device a bit confusing—how am I supposed to know my antistrophe from my antanaclasis?

As such, we’ve defined each device next to the word itself, making these types of repetition easier to navigate. In addition to using these devices in your writing, you can also impress your friends by telling them what they just said is an antimetabole.

Repetition examples in literature are included with each device below.

1. Anadiplosis—Repetition in Successive Clauses

Anadiplosis is when a word or phrase is repeated in successive clauses. Usually, the phrase shows up at the end of one clause and the beginning of the next.

You’ll find anadiplosis often in classic literature, and this device is especially prevalent in the Bible. Take this excerpt from the Book of Genesis (1:1-2):

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void.

In this passage, “the earth” ends the first sentence and starts the second. This puts the earth at the center of the text, emphasizing its importance and outsized presence in Genesis.

Anadiplosis can also be used to offer a sense of placement. Take this example, from the poem “The Isles of Greece” by Lord Byron:

The mountains look on Marathon – And Marathon looks on the sea…

In this excerpt, the reader can view the arrangement of the landscape. We see Marathon literally situated between the mountains and the sea, because it’s situated that same way in the text, which also emphasizes Marathon’s importance to the poem itself.

2. Anaphora—Repetition at the Beginning of Lines or Clauses

For the most part, anaphora is an example of repetition in poetry. This device involves the repeated use of a word or phrase at the beginning of each line in a poem, or each sentence in prose.

Let’s look at repetition examples for each. In poetry, anaphora is present in the piece “The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee” by N. Scott Momaday. Read this poem at our article Literary Devices in Poetry.

In prose, consider this sentence from the novel Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler:

I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat, and a gun.

The repeating phrase “I needed” highlights the narrator’s desperation, especially since each need is a luxury only afforded to the wealthy and comfortable. The following sentence, which describes the narrator’s belongings, offers insight into the narrator’s psyche and behavior—we know his needs and what he has to obtain those needs.

3. Antanaclasis—Successive Repetition of a Word, In Which Each Use Has a Different Meaning

One word can have many different meanings, especially in the English language. Did you know that the word “set” has 430 different usages described in the Oxford English Dictionary?

Antanaclasis harnesses this facet of language so that each repetition of words has a different meaning.

Take this example from Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening.”

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The repetition of the last line, and particularly the phrase “I sleep,” clues the reader towards two different meanings. The first “I sleep” is clearly referring to rest, while the second “I sleep” probably refers to the speaker’s death. This double meaning of “sleep” suggests the speaker has much more work to do before he can comfortably rest, both at night and at the end of his life.

4. Antimetabole—Phrases or Sentences Repeated in Reverse Grammatical Order

Antimetabole is when phrases or sentences are repeated in reverse order, with the intent of juxtaposing different meanings. In both clauses, the grammatical structure is exactly the same. This device is closely related to chiasmus, but with a slight difference that we explain later below.

This repetition literary device is much easier to demonstrate than to define. See the below examples, each of which uses inverted word order to emphasize a certain point:

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

This quote, spoken by Festes in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, repeats “wit” and “fool” in inverse order. The effect is that Festes underlines the importance of wit, and that foolishness and wit are not mutually exclusive: a “fool” or clown can be witty, which is far better than actually being a foolish person.

Here’s another example of antimetabole, from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God:

Women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget.

Hurston’s novel frequently dwells on the themes of gender and society, and this quote sums up the novel’s attitude nicely. At a time when women were viewed as subservient to their husbands, Hurston is saying that women are fully in control of their fate, feelings, and thoughts, defying the typical gender roles of that era. The antimetabole of “forget” and “remember” reinforces that sense of control.

5. Antistrophe—Repetition at the Ends of Lines or Clauses

Antistrophe—also known as epistrophe or epiphora—is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive lines or clauses. Like anaphora, the effect of antistrophe is the emphasis of a recurring idea.

You’ll find an example of antistrophe in the short poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks:

        The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.

The word “We” starts each sentence, but ends each line—except the last line. This repetition emphasizes two things. First, it shows the reader the speaker’s lack of identity: he can only identify as a weak “we,” and that “we” centers itself around youthful rebellion.

Second, it highlights the poet’s attitude towards the boys. There is no “we” after the phrase “die soon,” which underscores the poem’s finality and the poet’s belief that the boys will ruin their own lives.

6. Chiasmus—Phrases or Sentences Repeated in Reverse Order

Chiasmus, like antimetabole, is the repetition of a phrase in reverse order. By inverting a phrase, the writer juxtaposes different or opposite meanings.

Unlike antimetabole, a chiasmus does not have to invert a phrase grammatically. The two clauses can have different lengths and structures. As such, antimetabole is often viewed as a stricter form of chiasmus.

Let’s look at an example of each, side-by-side. The following, from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is an example of both chiasmus and antimetabole, because each inverted clause preserves the same grammatical structure:

Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Now, this next quote, from Aeschylus, is an example of chiasmus, but not of antimetabole, because each inverted clause has a different grammatical structure:

It is not the oath that makes us believe the man,
but the man the oath.

To summarize: a chiasmus is also an antimetabole, but not every antimetabole is a chiasmus.

7. Epanalepsis—Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a clause or sentence

Epanalepsis refers to repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a line, clause, or sentence. This is a feature of some other types of repetition—chiasmus and antimetabole, in particular, will often feature an epanalepsis.

This repetition device is just as useful for poets and storytellers as it is for rhetoricians. Here are a few examples:

The most obvious reason for using epanalepsis is emphasis on an important concept or keyword. That said, pay attention to how this repetition device adds a sense of rhythm and musicality to language. Something about the echoing of important words adds movement and tension to the sentence, making it moving and evocative.

8. Epimone—Repetition for the Purpose of Dwelling

Epimone, a device most often used in dialogue, occurs when the speaker repeats themselves for the purpose of dwelling on a point. This repetition doesn’t contribute anything new to the speaker’s argument, but it often shows us how the speaker truly feels.

Here’s an example from Romeo & Juliet:

NURSE
O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day.
Most lamentable day, most woeful day
That ever, ever, I did yet behold!
O day, O day, O day, O hateful day.
Never was seen so black a day as this.
O woeful day, O woeful day.

In addition to several epizeuxis examples (defined below), this quote has several examples of epimone. The repeating “woeful,” “O day,” and “O woeful day” phrases don’t contribute anything new to what the nurse is saying, but it does underscore how terrible the day is for her.

Epimone is best used as an element in dialogue to humanize characters. In real life, people repeat themselves for emphasis, and using epimone reflects this human tendency.

9. Epizeuxis—Words Repeated in Quick Succession

Epizeuxis, also known as diacope, is the repetition of words in quick succession.

There are countless repetition examples of epizeuxis in the poem “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe. Each stanza ends with some variation of the following:

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
               Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Here, the immediate repetition of “bells” is an epizeuxis. Try to read this stanza as though each iteration of “bells” was a bell jingling: the stanza becomes vibrant, exciting, and perhaps even overwhelming, as it is both figuratively and literally consumed by the bells.

10. Polyptoton—The Inclusion of Multiple Words with the Same Root

Polyptoton is the use of two or more words that, though different, share the same root. The words “bare & barely” have the same root; so do the word pairs “battle & embattled” and “lunar & lunatic.”

Polyptoton was a common facet of Latin and Greek poetry, since one word has hundreds of forms in each language. However, modern literature has examples of polyptoton, too. Take this excerpt from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Dry Salvages”:

There is no end of it, the voiceless wailing,
No end to the withering of withered flowers,
To the movement of pain that is painless and motionless,
To the drift of the sea and the drifting wreckage,
The bone’s prayer to Death its God. Only the hardly, barely prayable
Prayer of the one Annunciation.

There are four examples of polyptoton here: “wither & withering”, “pain & painless”, “drift & drifting”, and “prayer, prayable, & Prayer.”

What is the effect of repetition with polyptoton? By using different forms of the same word, the writer can suggest an evolving relationship between those words. The flowers, withered, are still withering; the sea, which drifts, brings drifting wreckage. Polyptoton adds dimension to the meanings of words, providing contrast and emphasis to what those words signify.

11. Symploce—Repetition at Both the Beginnings and Ends of Clauses

Symploce occurs when a writer uses both anaphora and antistrophe at the same time. By using symploce, the writer highlights nuances of meaning and the differences between the two repeating phrases.

Because symploce happens at both the beginning and end of a line or sentence, it most often occurs as repetition in poetry. Here’s an example of a poem, “Sonnet 62” by Bartholomew Griffin, that has symploce in each line:

Most true that I must fair Fidessa love.
Most true that I fair Fidessa cannot love.
Most true that I do feel the pains of love.
Most true that I am captive unto love.
Most true that I deluded am with love.
Most true that I do find the sleights of love.
Most true that nothing can procure her love.
Most true that I must perish in my love.
Most true that She contemns the God of love.
Most true that he is snarèd with her love.
Most true that She would have me cease to love.
Most true that She herself alone is Love.
Most true that though She hated, I would love!
Most true that dearest life shall end with love.

“Sonnet 62” uses an anaphora with “most true” and an antistrophe with “love.” Each line slightly alters the relationship between truth and love, presenting a series of juxtapositions and paradoxes that complicates the speaker’s relationship to Fidessa. By writing this sonnet as a perfect symploce, Griffin is able to capture that complexity and his evolving relationship to love itself.

What is the Effect of Repetition?

Repetition in literature offers a variety of powerful rhetorical strategies. In the above repetition examples, we’ve seen this device do the following:

• Emphasize key themes and ideas
• Underscore the relationship between ideas
• Emulate sounds and experiences
• Invert ideas for emphasis
• Juxtapose ideas to challenge the reader
• Play with multiple meanings and ambiguities
• Situate an important setting in the text, both figuratively and literally
• Suggest a character’s interiority

Repetition can do all of the above, and much more. What makes repetition in poetry and prose so powerful is that it emphasizes other devices and ideas in the text.

Since the main effect of repetition is emphasis, writers should harness the repetition of words to underscore what their work is trying to accomplish. By skillfully repeating words and phrases, writers can clue the reader towards what they’re trying to say in their work, using the tools of rhetoric in artistic and literary ways.

Wield Repetition at Writers.com

Repetition is a powerful literary device, but if you have too many repeating words and phrases, your work can lose its impact. Writers.com can help! Become a part of our community: Take a look at our upcoming courses or join our Facebook group, and receive caring feedback on your work and repetition.