Repetition (rhetorical device)

Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to secure emphasis. This is such a common literary device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech. It also has connotations to listing for effect and is used commonly by famous poets 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)

Types

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin)
"Words, words, words." (Hamlet)
"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)
"This, it seemed to him, was the end, the end of a world as he had known it..." (James Oliver Curwood)
"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." (Winston Churchill)
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
"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)
"For your gods are not gods but man-made idols." (The Passion of Saints Sergius and Bacchus)
"The king is dead, long live the king."

See also

References

  1. Nordquist, Richard. Epizeuxis. Lincoln Financial Group. 20 May 2008 <http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/epizeuxisterm.htm>.
  2. http://www.democracynow.org/2006/3/22/helen_thomas_asks_president_bush_why
  3. usingenglish.com. White Smoke. 20 May 2008 <http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/anadiplosis.html>.
  4. Nordquist, Richard. Aphora. visitorlando.com. 20 May 2008 <http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/anaphora.htm>.
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