Anaphora is the technique of repeating an idea and elaborating on it each time.

What is Anaphora? - Transcript (English and Spanish Subtitles Available in Video, Click HERE for Spanish Transcript)

By Raymond Malewitz, Oregon State University Associate Professor of American Literature

Anaphora is the repetition of words or phrases in a group of sentences, clauses, or poetic lines. It is sort of like epistrophe, which I discussed in a previous video, except that the repetition in anaphora occurs at the beginning of these structures while the repetition in epistrophe occurs at the end.

Like epistrophe, anaphora has ancient origins, combining the Greek words ana, meaning repeat or back, and pherein, meaning to carry.  As this origin suggests, when we hear or read anaphoras, the sounds and meanings of certain words are carried back to us again and again until we begin to carry them with us as well.

In other words, like so many other forms of literary repetition--epistrophe, rhyme, meter, alliteration, assonance and consonance, and so on—anaphoras are incredibly powerful mnemonic devices. When we remember Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech or Winston Churchill’s “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech, we are remembering the anaphoras.

In a variety of ways, these speeches call to mind earlier moments in human history in which oral forms of communication were much more prominent than written forms. Two of the oldest documents from this history are the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and both works are chock-full of anaphoras: “thou shalt not,” “blessed are the,” “give unto the lord,” and so on. These repetitive phrases ensured that the lessons they convey were carried on by their listeners millennia after they were created.

Poets often use this device to a similar effect. John Keats uses anaphora throughout his famous poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” to convey a sense of the immortality of the visual art it describes, and Langston Hughes uses the device in a similar manner in many of his poems, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”  Given our current historical moment, however, I want to dwell for a minute on a very recent poem—Lynn Ungar’s “Pandemic,” which was written just two months ago during the early days of the current COVID-19 lockdown. Here’s how it goes:

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath —

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

.

And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

.

Promise this world your love —

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live.

Lynn Ungar is a minister as well as a poet, and this profession certainly colors the themes of the poem.  But it also influences the poem’s anaphoric style, as the speaker moves from instructions on what not to do (“Cease from travel. / Cease from buying and selling.”) to instruction to what to do (“Reach out your heart. / Reach out your words. / Reach out all the tendrils of compassion…”) The two opposing actions in the poem—contraction and expansion—are emphasized by the contrasting anaphoras, which in the first stanza tell us what we are giving up and in the second show us how we can still give comfort while we continue our social distancing.

I can’t say whether the poem will live on past the current quarantine, but I know that I carry it with me now, in large part because of the anaphoras that structure its message.  Stay healthy, everybody.

Further Resources for Teachers

As mentioned in the video, Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" contains many examples of anaphora.

Writing Prompt: Identify a few examples of anaphora in this poem. How does the anaphoric repetition relate to the poem's themes? How is time experienced in the poem, and how might anaphora contribute to this sense as well?

Interested in more video lessons? View the full series:

The Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms

Anaphora is the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or expressions. This rhetorical device is used by authors to convey or emphasize a message or connect, compare, or contrast ideas.

Especially in speeches, lyrics, and poems, it’s a powerful mnemonic device because the repetition creates messages that are remembered long after they’re created.

Read on to see three examples of anaphora in speeches, novels, and poems.

1. “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.

King’s speech was a defining moment in the civil rights movement. It called for an end to racism while addressing the issue in a way that affected the audience through emotions and logic:

“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”

The use of anaphora emphasized the importance and urgency behind the need for change.

Although King used anaphora several times throughout the speech, his repetition of “I have a dream” made it one of the most widely known phrases from any speech in our history:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

King conveyed his wish for an integrated and united America, and he used repetition to connect with his audience and convince them that change and equality are both necessary and possible.

King’s delivery of this message in 1963 was powerful, and the use of anaphora is one of the reasons why the speech was so memorable and still resonates nearly 60 years later.

2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The use of anaphora in the opening paragraph of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is still remembered more than a century after it was written.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

Dickens described the turbulent conditions in London and Paris during the French Revolution and used anaphora to emphasize the stark contrasts of the time. We know the popular idiom “every coin has two sides,” and Dickens emphasized this by showing that good and bad things happened at the same time and that progress was made despite difficult circumstances—a concept that’s been maintained throughout history.

3. “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

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We willrise from the gold-limned hills of the west,

we willrise from the windswept northeast

where our forefathers first realized revolution,

we willrise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,

we willrise from the sunbaked south.

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover

in every known nook of our nation and

every corner called our country,

our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

battered and beautiful.

“America United” was the theme of President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, and Gorman’s inaugural poem used anaphora to emphasize the hope for unity, equality, and healing as the country turned over a new leaf.

Gorman’s poem highlighted not only the darkness the country had experienced throughout history but also the light that was possible through unity. Gorman ended with a memorable call to action for the collective “we” to recognize and work toward our full potential:

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it,

if only we’re brave enough to be it.

Although anaphora can be a powerful tool to create memorable messages, it’s important that it’s used correctly to maintain its effectiveness. If you need help ensuring that you’re not overusing anaphora or that your writing still flows, our expert editors can help! Upload a free trial document today to learn more.

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