Hey, I'm Mr. Sato.
Let me explain anaphora, epistrophe, and symploce.
These words probably sound really foreign to you.
They sound like medication brand names, don't they?
(Are you suffering from cranial elephantitis or backward elbows?
Ask your doctor about Anaphora!)
They sound foreign because they are: they're Greek.
Words from Greek roots often sound strange.
Like, why is there a "p" in pneumonia?
Right?
We don't say "P-neumnonia."
Well, you can blame the Ancient Greeks for that.
Understanding what these things are, in my opinion, is easier than remembering the words
themselves.
Anaphora, epistrophe, and symploce are poetic devices, which means they're three of the
many tools in the writer's box of tricks, like rhyming and alliteration.
Anaphora, to begin with, is the repetition of a word or words at the beginnings of a
series of sentences, phrases, or clauses.
Song lyrics do this all the time.
See here how Beyonce starts each phrase with the same word, but the rest of the words in
the phrase are different?
Release, release, release.
That's anaphora.
Here are more song lyrics with anaphora.
This is from X.
John Lennon
Kendrick Lamar
But anaphora isn't just for song lyrics.
This is from a poem.
Maya Angelou repeats "you may" at the beginnings of these first three lines.
You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.
I love that poem.
I'll bet your teacher loves that poem too.
I'm also pretty sure Amanda Gorman is alluding to Angelou's poem in this well-known
contemporary poem.
By the way, I think "raise" and "rise" are pretty close in sound and meaning, so I include
both.
We will rise, we will rise, we will rise.
Next example: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill used anaphora in a famous speech
during World War II.
"We shall fight, we shall fight, we shall fight."
Four times, and then a variation, "We shall never surrendah."
All at the beginning of each phrase.
I could easily come up with a hundred examples of anaphora, but you get the idea.
It's a very commonly used poetic device.
Next.
Epistrophe is related to anaphora.
Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or words at the ends of a series of
sentences, phrases, or clauses.
Understand?
Anaphora is when you do it at the beginning.
Epistrophe is when you do it at the end.
Here's an example from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to
go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free
one day."
You see how Dr. King ended a series of phrases with "to-something-together?"
That's epistrophe.
And here's another example.
This one is from John Steinbeck.
"I'll be ever'where- wherever you look.
Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.
Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. An' when our folk eat the stuff they
raise an' live in the houses they build- why, I'll be there."
Epistrophe.
If you want to use both, you can, it's called symploce.
The beginnings and endings are repeated but the middle is still different.
Read this quote from former President Bill Clinton.
The first line is about hate.
The second one is about violence.
But the beginnings and endings are repeated.
"When there is talk of" is the beginning.
"Let us stand up and talk against it" is the end.
That's symploce.
Here's another example of symploce, from a speech by former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"There is no Negro problem.
There is no Southern problem.
There is no Northern problem.
There is only an American problem."
Each phrase starts with "there is" and ends with "problem."
In the middle of each sentence is a different word.
That's symploce.
Now, here's an example of what anaphora, epistrophe, and symploce are not.
This example from Vampire Weekend is repetition, but not anaphora, epistrophe, or symploce,
because the entire line is repeated word-for-word.
In anaphora, only the beginnings are the same.
In epistrophe, only the ends are the same.
In symploce, the beginnings and endings are both the same, but the middle is still different.
So this is none of those things.
OK, questions.
Pause the video and read these three quotes.
Of what is this an example?
It's anaphora.
And this one?
That's epistrophe.
Lastly, how about this one?
That s an example of symploce.
Now that you understand anaphora, epistrophe, and symploce, they're
pretty simple concepts, right?
Even if you don't remember those words, they're easy to use, easy to spot, and they
sound great.
Try using anaphora, epistrophe, and symploce in your writing.
It'll kick the rhetoric up a notch and add a little style to your words.
OK, go to it.