Repetition (rhetorical device)

Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a short space of words (including in a
poem), with no particular placement of the words to secure emphasis. It is a multilinguistic
written or spoken device, frequently used in English and several other languages, and so
rarely termed a figure of speech.

Its forms, many of which are listed below, have varying resonances to listing (forms of
enumeration, such as "Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly and lastly..."), as a matter of trite logic often
similar in effect.

It features in famous poems such as:

“ Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked

to one another that a disaster for one is a disaster for everybody.
(Natalia Ginzburg, The Little Virtues, 1962)

”
Contents
Types Edit

Antanaclasis is the repetition of a word or phrase to effect a different meaning.

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin)
Epizeuxis or palilogia is the repetition of a single word, with no other words in between. This
is derived from Greek for "fastening together".[1]
"Words, words, words." (Hamlet)
Conduplicatio is the repetition of a word in various places throughout a paragraph.
"And the world said, 'Disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences'—and therefore, we
worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of
the world."[2] (George W. Bush)
Anadiplosis is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the
end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence.[3]
"This, it seemed to him, was the end, the end of a world as he had known it..." (James Oliver
Curwood)
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause. It comes
from the Greek phrase "carrying up or back".[4]
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"[5] (Winston
Churchill)
Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of every clause.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within
us."[dubious ] (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Mesodiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the middle of every clause.
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed..." (Second Epistle to the
Corinthians)
Diaphora is the repetition of a name, first to signify the person or persons it describes, then
to signify its meaning. In modern English it has become the standard form of syntax in the
example of the personal possessive pronouns given below.[6]
"For your gods are not gods but man-made idols." (The Passion of Saints Sergius and
Bacchus)
Epanalepsis is the repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end.
"The king is dead, long live the king!"
Diacope is repetition of a word or phrase with one or two words between each repeated
phrase.