Literary Devices Where You Say the Same Sentence Again

Centfie writes, reads and analyzes poems from a psychological POV. Encounter her book on Amazon: "Slice of Heed: Everyone has an Untold Story."

Literary Devices for Repetition

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This is a simple guide regarding literary techniques of repetition. I have used examples from poems written past famous poets like Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, and John Milton.

Afterwards reading this article, you will be able to identify specific types of repetition in poetry, novels, short stories, and daily speech communication.

Defining the Literary Device of Repetition

Repetition in poetry (and literature) is a rhetorical device of using ideas, words, sounds, lines, or stanzas more than once in one poem. The above factors are repeated again and again.

In literature, repetition is a collective term for many types of repetitive use of language. Some forms of repetition are and then close that one is frequently mistakenly identified equally the other. Examples of this are chiasmus and antimetabole.

You may exist surprised to find out that the various forms of repetition y'all have used naturally in your conversations, poems and writing already have specific names.

Why Apply Repetition in Writing?

Near writers use repetition to:

• emphasize
• enhance rhythm
• deepen meaning
• produce a powerful sound upshot
• increase memorability

25 Types of Literary Repetition

Types of stylistic devices of repetition vary depending on what is repeated. You may repeat sounds, words, lines, stanzas, or abstract concepts in a poem.

The following is an alphabetical list of various forms of literary devices of repetition:

1. alliteration
2. amplification
3. anadiplosis
4. anaphora
5. antanaclasis
6. antistasis
7. assonance
8. chiasmus
9. consonance
10. diacope
11. diaphora
12. envelope
13. epanalepsis
14. epimone
15. epiphora
16. epistrophe
17. epizeuxis
18. mesarchia
19. mesodiplosis
20. negative positive restatement
21. polyptoton
22. refrain
23. rhyme
24. parallelism
25. symploce

Let's look at them i by one with relevant examples.

Note: I have used bold letters to bespeak out the specific stylistic device discussed. The original poems do not take bold messages.

A list of 25 types of literary repetition techniques

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Amplification

This literary technique involves repeating a statement or idea, intending to describe it or give more than details about it. Amplification is used to clarify an idea and for emphasis.

Case

In lines 31 through 33 of the verse form "Daddy" by Sylivia Plath:

An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

The poet repeats both "an engine" and "a Jew" with the intention to give more details.

Anadiplosis (or Gradatio)

Anadisplosis is a mutual literary technique whereby poets repeat the last word or phrase in a line at the first of the adjacent line. It is used for emphasis, rhythm enhancement, and to produce an aesthetic effect.

Case

In lines 32 and 33 of the poem "Daddy" by Sylivia Plath:

Chuffing me off similar a Jew.

A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

Anaphora

The literary device in which a phrase or word is repeated at the beginning of consecutive lines or clauses is known as anaphora. Autonomously from adding emphasis to the selected words, information technology contributes to the rhythm of a poem. The opposite of anaphora is epiphora.

Instance:

In lines lines 43 and 44 of the verse form "Daddy" by Sylivia Plath:

And your corking mustache
And your Aryan eye, brilliant bluish.

Antanaclasis (or Antistasis)

Antanaclasis is wordplay characterized by the repetition of the same word in a poem or specific line, but having a dissimilar meaning each time. For instance, the repeated discussion may be used as a verb in the commencement usage and the next time information technology appears, it'southward used equally a noun.

Example

Lines 49 and fifty in the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath

The boot in the face, the brute

Brute centre of a brute like you.

Run into the way the discussion "animal" is repeated, just each fourth dimension it refers to a different meaning.

Antimetabole involves repeating words or phrases inversely to emphasize, show differences, or present alternatives. The identify of the first word is substituted with the 2d word in the adjacent line. Antimetabole is a form of chiasmus only is more specific to a single pair of words.

Example

In the verse form "Paradise Lost" by John Milton line 255 states:

Can brand a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'northward.

Annotation that the words are repeated in abba rhyme structure Heav'n (a) Hell (b) Hell (b) Heav'n (b.)

Chiasmus

Chiasmus is a type of literary repetition where the same words, phrases, or ideas are reversed and repeated possibly giving a unlike pregnant. Chiasmus is a broad device which can occur in an entire poem, across the repetition of words or phrases.

Run across the example given higher up in Antimetabole, which is a form of chiasmus.

Example

Accept a await at another instance from "Acquainted with the Dark" past Robert Frost

I take walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I accept outwalked the furthest city light.

Diacope

Diacope is a literary technique in poetry that involves repeating the same words or phrases separated past other words in the eye. Information technology emphasizes an idea and creates rhythm.

Instance

Run across line 39 in "Daddy" past Sylvia Plath

And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack

Diaphora

This repetition device occurs when a mutual name or title is assigned to somebody. Furthermore, the proper noun suggests the qualities of that person.

Example

Sylvia Plath'south "Daddy" the persona addresses the father using "Daddy" repeatedly in the poem.

Daddy, I accept had to kill you. (line 6)

So daddy, I'yard finally through (line 68)

Daddy, you can lie dorsum now. (line 75)

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through. (line fourscore)

Envelope

The envelope is a literary device typical of poetry in which the repetition of a line or stanza encloses other lines or stanzas.

Example

In "Acquainted with the Nighttime" by Robert Frost:

"I have been i acquainted with the night" which is the offset line, is repeated equally the terminal line of the poem. Thus, it envelopes the stanzas in between.

Epanalepsis

A form of literary repetition in which the offset give-and-take of the line is also the terminal discussion of the same line. Epanalepsis is common in verse and gives an "enveloping" effect.

Example

See the post-obit line (36) in Sylvia Plath's poem "The Applicant"

It works, there is zippo wrong with it

Epimone

Repetition of a phrase for accent especially if it'southward a question.

Example

In Sylvia Plath'southward "The Applicant":

Line 14 "Will yous marry information technology?" is repeated again in line 22 and the last line.

Epiphora (Epistrophe)

The poetic device in which a phrase or word is repeated at the end of consecutive lines or clauses is known every bit epiphora. It creates rhyme and emphasis. It'due south the inverse of anaphora.

Example

Encounter lines 34 and 35 of the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath:

I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew

Epizeuxis (Ploce)

Information technology'south a mutual type of repetition device and very easy to spot. Words or phrases echo following each other consecutively within a line. Epizeuxis creates rhythm and emphasis.

Instance

Line xviii in the verse form "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath:

Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.

Quiz

For each question, choose the all-time answer. The answer key is below.

1. 1. Which of the post-obit statements about epizeuxis is True?
   • a phrase or give-and-take is repeated at the end of consecutive lines or clauses
   • a phrase or word is repeated following each other consecutively within a line

Reply Key

1. a phrase or word is repeated following each other consecutively within a line

Interpreting Your Score

If y'all got 0 correct answers: Try once more

If you lot got 1 correct answer: Excellent

Mesarchia

It'southward a technique of repetition where the same word or group of words occur at the beginning and again in the middle of sequent clauses.

Case

Hither is a form of mesarchia found in line 66 of "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath:

(I phone call this a "mild example" because it just appears in one line.)

And a dearest of the rack and the screw.

Mesodiplosis

Information technology's a technique of repetition where the same word or phrase occurs in the center of successive lines. Mesodiplosis enhances sound effect, rhythm and accent. It besides creates parallelism.

Example

Meet lines 42 through 44 in the poem "Daddy" past Sylvia Plath

I have e'er been scared of you,

With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.

And your neat mustache

And your Aryan eye, bright blue.

Negative-positive restatement

A literary technique characterized past showtime stating an idea in a negative course, and so in a positive way. Equally in what is not the case then what is. The changed also applies, that is, from positive statement first then to it's negative.

Example

An excerpt from "Paradise Lost" by John Milton, lines 253 an 254:

A mind non to be chang'd by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in it self

Repetition of "mind" showtime using the verb "to be" in a negative form (depicted past the word 'non'), and the adjacent in positive form.

Polyptoton

Polyptoton occurs when a poem has repetitive words with the same root although the endings of the give-and-take are different. Mostly, when poets employ this, it's the aforementioned verb but in different verb forms or every bit another lexical category like an adverb or noun.

Example

Line 6 in the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath

Daddy, I have had to kill you lot.

Refrain

When a line is repeated in a poem, information technology's a technique called refrain. Some poems take a regular refrain whereby a line is repeated at the stop of each stanza. Refrains contribute to the rhythm and beauty of a poem. As other types of repetition, the refrain emphasizes an thought and gives the poem a persuasive tone.

Example

In "The Raven" past Edgar Allan Poe:

The poet repeats variations of the line "this and nothing more" at the stop of every stanza.

"Only this and zip more than"

"This it is and nothing more."

"Darkness there and aught more than."

— Edgar Allan Poe, from "The Raven," (lines half-dozen,18, and 24)

Parallelism

Parallelism is the repetition of structure in side by side lines or phrases within a poem. It can involve parallel meter, word order, or patterns. Parallelism is used to emphasize the meaning of the poem or the specific parallel words. Also, it emphasizes sounds and improves the rhythm of a poem. When parallelism is consistent throughout the verse form, it can give it a regular rhythm.

Instance

An excerpt from the verse form "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath, lines 38 and 39:

With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack

Check the repetitive structure in the mode the above lines are constructed.
"And my weird luck," and my Taroc pack" are parallel. In fact, the repetition of and my Taroc pack in line 39 seems intentional to maintain the parallelism.
Anaphora and epiphora are also good examples of parallelism.

Symploce

Symploce is a stylistic literary device of repetition whereby anaphora and epiphora occur in the aforementioned lines. Sequent lines begin with the aforementioned word or phrase (anaphora). Then, the same consecutive lines terminate with the same word or phrase (epiphora.)

Case

Lines 106 and 107 in "The Raven" past Edgar Allan Poe
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Repetition of Sounds

At that place's another group of repetition which can be classified as literary devices of sound. They are characterized by the repetition of diverse similar sounds. Let's examine them i by one with relevant examples.

Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of words that end with the aforementioned syllable sounds.

Example

Line 1 and 2 in the verse form "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath rhyme:

Y'all do not practice, y'all do non do
Whatever more, black shoe

Note that line one higher up has internal rhymes.

Ingemination

Alliteration is a poetic device involving repetition of the same sound at the start of words close to each other in a line.

Case

The verse form "Daddy" past Sylvia Plath, line 47:

So black no sky could southwardqueak through

Consonance

Consonance is a poetic device containing repetitive consonant sounds in a line.

Example

The poem "Daddy" past Sylvia Plath, lines 23 and 47:

Put your foot, your root,

Observe the repetition of "t" sounds above?

Then black no southone thousandy could squeaone thousand through

Here the "k" sound is repeated.

Assonance

Assonance is a stylistic device in poetry involving repetition vowel sounds in a line.

Case

The poem "Daddy" past Sylvia Plath:

Yous exercise not do, you do non do (line 1)

See the repetitive "oo" and "o" sounds.

So black no sky could squeak through (line 47)

See the repetitive "o" and "oo" sounds respectively

References

• Greene, R., Cushman, South., Cavanagh, C., Ramazani, J., Rouzer, P., Feinsod, H., ... & Slessarev, A. (Eds.). (2012). The Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics. Princeton Academy Press.
• Kane, T. S. (1994). The new Oxford guide to writing. Oxford University Printing, United states of america.
• Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Brigham Young Academy, 2007. Retrieved from http://rhetoric.byu.edu/
• I source poems from the Poetry Foundation

This content is accurate and truthful to the best of the author's knowledge and is non meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2022 Centfie

Centfie (author) from Kenya on April 10, 2020:

Thank you Jamie.

Jamie Lee Hamann from Reno NV on April 10, 2020:

Excellent resource. Flagged for afterwards use. Jamie

rodriguezrolong.blogspot.com

Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Literary-Techniques-of-Repetition-in-Poetry-With-Examples

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