anaphora

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anaphora [a‐naf‐ŏ‐ră], a rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences. Found very often in both verse and prose, it was a device favoured by Dickens and used frequently in the free verse of Walt Whitman. These lines by Emily Dickinson illustrate the device:

Mine—by the Right of the White Election!
Mine—by the Royal Seal!
Mine—by the Sign in the Scarlet prison
Bars—cannot conceal!

Adjective: anaphoral or anaphoric.

See also epistrophe.

Anaphora in general is used of coreferential relations, where one element in a sentence takes its meaning or reference from another. In ‘John said that it would rain, but I don't believe it’ the last ‘it’ refers back to what John said. In the study in linguistics known as government-binding theory, specific terms like ‘himself’ or ‘each other’ form noun phrases that are necessarily dependent upon an antecedent. Some anaphoric relations are felicitously symbolized by the use of bound variables. Cataphora arises when a word is to be interpreted in terms of what is still to come: forward-looking anaphora.

repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect
we cannot dedicate -- we cannot cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground

the repetition of an opening word or phrase in throughout a number of lines.

For a list of words related to anaphora, see:

• Rhetoric and Figures of Speech - anaphora: repetition of same word or phrase to begin consecutive sentences or clauses

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See words rhyming with "anaphoric."

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