anadiplosis
What is Anadiplosis? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples
Anadiplosis Definition
Anadiplosis (ANN-uh-dih-PLOH-sis) is a figure of speech or literary device in which a word that appears at the end of a clause or sentence repeats at the beginning of the next clause or sentence. Writers use anadiplosis to conceptually connect clauses, emphasize themes, or create a rhythm.
The word anadiplosis derives from the Greek andiploûstaì, which means “to be doubled back.” The term first appeared in literature with its current meaning in 1550.
Where Anadiplosis Can Occur
- The repeated word can occur near the end of the first sentence and the beginning of the second sentence: “He acted with great courage. His courage was his greatest strength.”
- The repeated word can appear near the end of one clause and near the beginning of the next clause: “When we fight, we fight for freedom.”
- Often, multiple repeated words will occur in a string of sentences: “The petal was on the flower. The flower was on the stem. The stem was in the grass.”
- Anadiplosis can include the repetition of multiple words: “He was a friendly man in a yellow hat. The man in a yellow hat was kind.”
Anadiplosis and Other Literary Devices
Anadiplosis vs. Chiasmus and Antimetabole
Chiasmus is a device in which the writer or speaker reverses the concept of a phrase in the second sentence or clause: “He sleeps all day, and he parties all night.” Unlike anadiplosis and antimetabole, chiasmus does not repeat words.
While anadiplosis only requires the repetition of one word, antimetabole is the repetition and reversal of multiple words from the first sentence or clause in the second sentence or clause: “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.” Antimetabole and anadiplosis can occur at the same time.
Anadiplosis vs. Anaphora and Epiphora
Anaphora is a rhetorical device in which words at the beginning of a sentence or clause repeat at the beginning of the next clause. An example of anaphora might be: “The sky here is clear. The sky here is blue.” Conversely, an epiphora is a device in which the words at the end of a sentence or clause repeat at the end of the next sentence or clause. Here’s an example: “I like to play in the sand. She likes to play in the sand.”
The Purpose of Anadiplosis
Writers and orators use anadiplosis to emphasize a concept or meaning, persuade an audience, introduce a sequence of steps, and create a rhythm. Anadiplosis can elevate the drama of a work and can connect common themes through a thread of clauses or sentences.
Take this quote from the movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” With this dialogue, Jedi Master Yoda explains how the natural progression of fear is the “path to the Dark Side” and connects the concept through each sentence using anadiplosis.
Examples of Anadiplosis in Media
In addition to literature, anadiplosis appears in many different forms and genres.
Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes incorporate anadiplosis to create a sing-song rhythm that appeals to children. Consider these lines from “Hush, Little Baby”: “Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird / And if that mockingbird won’t sing / Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring / And if that diamond ring turns brass […]”
“There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” offers another example: “There was an old lady who swallowed a bird; / How absurd to swallow a bird! / She swallowed the bird to catch the spider / She swallowed the spider to catch the fly […]”
Movies
Screenplays and movie scripts use anadiplosis to heighten drama. In the 2000 film Gladiator, Commodus says this when describing Maximus: “The General who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor.”
Song Lyrics
As in nursery rhymes, song lyrics use anadiplosis to create rhythm and emphasis. The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” offers a simple but memorable example: “All you need is love, love is all you need.” Note that this is also an example of antimetabole.
Rhetoric and Politics
As stated, anadiplosis can be an effective tool in persuasion.
Malcom X used it in his “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech to show a sequence of events:
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern […]
Anadiplosis appears in political speeches to dramatize and strengthen an argument. During the 1988 Democratic National Convention Address, Jesse Jackson used anadiplosis to build up his point: “Suffering breeds character; character breeds faith; in the end, faith will not disappoint.”
Advertisements
Advertisements use anadiplosis to create empathy and show a humorous progression of events. A 2012 Direct TV ad states “When your cable company keeps you on hold, you get angry. When you get angry, you blow off steam.”
Examples of Anadiplosis in Literature
1. William Shakespeare, Richard II and Richard III
In this example, King Richard II is trying to convince Northumberland that Bolingbroke wants to take Richard’s throne. Shakespeare uses anadiplosis here to show the progression of Bolingbroke’s betrayal and Richard II’s prediction of Bolingbroke’s death:
The love of wicked men converts to fear, that fear to hate, and hate turns one or both to worthy danger and deserved death. [bold for emphasis]
In the second example, Richard III dreams that the ghosts of all the people he’s murdered visit him and tell him he’ll die the next day. Here, anadiplosis makes the words seem to quicken and expand alongside Richard’s many victims:
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, / And every tongue brings in several a tale / And every tale condemns me for a villain. [bold for emphasis]
2. William Butler Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
In this poem, Yeats’s speaker longs to leave his chaotic everyday world and retreat to the peaceful, uninhabited Isle of Innisfree. The first line emphasizes his determination to “go” using anadiplosis:
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree… [bold for emphasis]
3. The Holy Bible, Romans 5:3-5; John 1:1
In the first example from Romans, the writer is describing how God’s followers have been “justified through faith,” meaning their difficulties have given them positive outcomes. He points out the progression of suffering to hope using anadiplosis:
Not only so, but also we glory in our sufferings, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. [bold for emphasis]
In the following example from John, the writer uses anadiplosis to describe how God and “the word,” or the Bible, are one in the same:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [bold for emphasis]
Further Resources on Anadiplosis
You can find multiple, real-world examples of anadiplosis on the American Rhetoric website.
ThoughtCo. offers long-form anadiplosis examples, defines anadiplosis, and compares the device to chiasmus.