Exergasia
Repeating one idea in a series of differently worded statements to work it thoroughly.
Exergasia (Greek, 'working out') restates a single thought several times in varied language. Each restatement is complete in itself; together they polish the idea from several sides without adding new content.
It is closely related to expolitio and commoratio, and the Renaissance handbooks are not consistent about the boundaries. What all three share is the principle that emphasis can come from dwelling rather than from raising the voice.
Hebrew poetry is the great source of examples, because parallelism is its basic structural unit — the second line of a couplet typically restates the first in new terms.
Common mistake: mistaking padding for exergasia. Each restatement must sharpen or shift the angle; three sentences that say the same thing identically are simply repetitive.
“Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
Keep reading the glossary
Refining the same idea by restating it in varied forms.
A figure in which the speaker lingers on the same point by restating it in different words — dwelling for emphasis.
Restating one idea through a string of near-synonymous phrases.
Repeating a key word from a previous clause at the start of the next, for emphasis.