Gradatio
A figure in which the last word of one clause becomes the first word of the next, building a climax.
Gradatio, also called climax by many classical rhetoricians, is a chain of clauses in which the final word of one clause is repeated as the first word of the next. The effect is a staircase: each step carries the reader up to a higher point.
The figure is as old as the Hebrew Bible ('Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you') and as recent as political speech ('The only thing we have to fear is fear itself'). It works by turning the end of one thought into the beginning of the next, so momentum accumulates.
Gradatio is effective because it is both logical and musical. The repetition feels inevitable, and the climbing structure feels like a proof. The climax must be earned; if the final clause is weaker than the first, the staircase collapses.
Common mistake: repeating the same word without building meaning. Repetition alone is not gradatio; the repeated word must carry the argument forward.
“To create is to dare; to dare is to risk; to risk is to live.”
Keep reading the glossary
A figure of speech that repeats the last word of one clause at the start of the next, chaining thought forward.
A rhetorical structure of three parallel clauses, phrases, or words — the most persuasive number in English.
A figure in which successive clauses ascend in intensity, each building on the last.
A rhetorical scheme in which successive clauses have the same length and grammatical structure.