Definition:
An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage--dwelling on a point. Needless or unintentional repetition (a tautology or pleonasm) is a kind of clutter that may distract or bore a reader. Used deliberately, repetition can be an effective rhetorical strategy for achieving emphasis. See the different types of rhetorical repetition below. See also:
Types of Rhetorical Repetition With Examples:
- Anadiplosis
Repetition of the last word of one line or clause to begin the next.
"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain."
(William Shakespeare, Richard III) - Anaphora
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
"I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicize."
(Weird Science, 1985) - Antistasis
Repetition of a word in a different or contrary sense.
"A kleptomaniac is a person who helps himself because he can't help himself."
(Henry Morgan) - Commoratio
Emphasizing a point by repeating it several times in different words.
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."
(Douglass Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 1979) - Diacope
Repetition broken up by one or more intervening words.
"A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed."
(Theme song of 1960s TV program Mr. Ed) - Epanalepsis
Repetition at the end of a clause or sentence of the word or phrase with which it began.
"Swallow, my sister, O sister swallow,
How can thine heart be full of the spring?"
(Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Itylus") - Epimone
Frequent repetition of a phrase or question; dwelling on a point.
"And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon the summit of the rock; and I hid myself among the water-lilies that I might discover the actions of the man. . . .
"And the man sat upon the rock, and leaned his head upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation. . . . And I lay close within shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude;--but the night waned, and he sat upon the rock."
(Edgar Allan Poe, "Silence") - Epiphora
Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses.
"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised."
(Jack Sparrow, The Pirates of the Caribbean) - Epizeuxis
Repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis, usually with no words in between.
"If you think you can win, you can win."
(William Hazlitt) - Ploce
Repetition of a word with a new or specified sense, or with pregnant reference to its special significance.
"If it wasn't in Vogue, it wasn't in vogue."
(promotional slogan for Vogue magazine) - Polyptoton
Repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings.
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."
(George W. Bush, April 2006)
