Epistrophe
A figure of speech that repeats the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
Epistrophe is the mirror of anaphora. Where anaphora repeats an opening word at the start of successive clauses, epistrophe repeats a closing word at the end of them, so that a phrase becomes a drumbeat the ear returns to. Lincoln's 'of the people, by the people, for the people' is technically anaphora inside a tricolon, but the closing 'people' also functions epistrophically; Paul's 'When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child' is a purer example.
Because the repetition falls at the end of each unit — the position of natural emphasis in English — epistrophe is especially useful for insisting on a single idea without visibly labouring the point. Politicians, preachers, and songwriters use it constantly. Almost every chorus in popular music is a form of epistrophe.
The figure loses force if the repeated word is chosen for its rhythm rather than its meaning. A good epistrophe leans on a word that is worth returning to; a bad one turns a real point into a jingle.
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.”
Keep reading the glossary
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses.
A figure of speech that repeats the last word of one clause at the start of the next, chaining thought forward.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
A short, sharp statement that compresses a truth or observation into a single line.