Anadiplosis Examples

Anadiplosis is the literary term for a rhetorical device in which a writer or speaker uses a word near the end of the clause and then repeats that word to begin the next clause.

Anadiplosis is used to bring attention to a specific thing or concept. The repetition of the word calls attention to it as a main point of the text or speech.

The word does not have to be the very first word in the sentence; rather, it should just be near the beginning of the sentence-in close proximity to itself at the end of the previous clause.

1. When we win, we win big!

2. Jennifer had a problem, and her problem was getting bigger by the minute.

3. For dinner, I would like a steak, a steak and a salad to fill my plate.

4. I am not sure I like school, for school is a place where I must sit still-sit still and listen to a teacher drone on and on.

5. The glass teacup shattered into many pieces, and the pieces flew in all directions, shouting to the world what Ian had done.

Examples of Anadiplosis from Literature

1. "When I give, I give myself." Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

2. "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree . . . And I will have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow." William Butler Yeats, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

3. "The love of wicked men converts to fear, that fear to hate, and hate turns one or both to worthy danger and deserved death." Shakespeare, Richard II

4. "I beg your pardon; pardon, I beseech you." Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

5. "I am Sam; Sam I am." Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham