Rousing the audience: Anaphora and Epistrophe.
The anaphora
It is easy to do an anaphora. It is easy to repeat the first words of your sentence. It is easy to go on and on repeating. It is easy to assume that people are listening. It is easy to go on while thinking of something else. It is easy to...Politicians love it. Politicians do anaphora all the time.
We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.
These defiant words were spoken by
Winston Churchill after the Fall of France in 1941.
Poets love it. Here is William Blake:
William Blake again about the God who created the Tyger (sic):
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
Martin Luther King had a dream on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. “I have a dream...”
But can anyone remember what the dream
actually was?
Can anyone remember the other bits of
Churchill's speech?
No – but an awful lot of people got
the message!
One word anaphoras are good too.
Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river….Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brig; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes the throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper…
Good old Dickens!
This device is excellent for ending your speech and even your essay. The Anaphora inspires people. It fills them with your passionate appeal. It brings hope to a darkened world. It is that theatrical! It works! It inspires! It leads people forward under a star spangled banner! It is the answer to all our longings! It is the only way! Long live the anaphora!
A level Students only:
The anaphora is where you begin
with the same first words in every sentence: in every sentence if you
end with the same words, you end up with an epistrophe.
With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. - Anaphora.
I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. - Epistrophe.
Epistrophe.
Politicians love this one!
Abraham Lincoln: “Government for the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” By repeating “the people” he rammed the point right home. These words have never been forgotten.
It is a quite simple trick really: you just keep repeating the last word in a sentence. This speech was delivered in one piece - it is not a series of quotes:
There is nothing wrong with marching in this sense. (Yes, sir)
The Bible tells us that the mighty men of Joshua merely walked about the walled city of Jericho (Yes)
and the barriers to freedom came tumbling down. (Yes, sir)
I like that old Negro spiritual, (Yes, sir)
"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho." In its simple, yet colorful, depiction (Yes, sir)
of that great moment in biblical history, it tells us that:
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, (Tell it)
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, (Yes, sir)
And the walls come tumbling down. (Yes, sir. Tell it)
Up to the walls of Jericho they marched, spear in hand. (Yes, sir)
"Go blow them ramhorns," Joshua cried,
"‘Cause the battle am in my hand." (Yes, sir)
That very great American orator, Martin Luther King brought the Epistrophe from his Church into politics with impressive results. Every time he shouts “Yes, sir” he works the audience up into frenzied clapping and applause.
Hitler was a horrible mass murderer, but that did not stop him being an outstanding orator before he was totally corrupted by his warped “success” in declaring war. After that he sort of disappeared...
His epistrophe was, of course, Seig Heil. And thanks to Putzi Hanfstaengl, he got the idea from American political rallies and football games! Good old Putzi, not handsome, but effective.
People love repetition. They adore repetition. They yearn for repetition. They hanker for repetition. And what excites them most? Repetition. What makes them feel reassured? Repetition!
Singers know this. It is called the chorus. Here is an example which, for the first couple of minutes, I found amusing, even though it comes from Sweden. The chorus provides the epistrophe to the schoolmistress/campaigner at the front.
Religions love the epistrophe from Om – the Indian repetition of a simple syllable - to this:
I do hope that infuriates as many atheists as possible because I myself happen to be coming from a Catholic point of view! I love it when they get angry and go droning on and on and on.
The epistrophe, in case you missed it, is the one word Alleluia. But you have to listen right through to the end to hear it clearly ringing out. (There's a challenge!)
The use of the epistrophe is one which we ought to enjoy. There is nothing wrong in doing things which we enjoy. If annoying atheists is something which we enjoy, - well, that is what we should do – enjoy!
Summary:
Anaphora at the start of the sentence: at the end, epistrophe.Doubling up.
Anaphora at the beginning: at the end epistrophe. Here is a clever mixture of the two.
Writing is a skill. A skill is an achievement. An achievement means satisfaction. Satisfaction means happiness. So writing brings happiness.
Children are a blessing. A blessing means joy. Joy makes me feel great. So children make me feel great.
Once you start smoking, you start a habit. A habit is often very hard to stop.
Repeating the last word in the sentence and starting the next one with the same word is doubling up. You can do it as many times as you like.
It is so easy. Classical authors loved it.
For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness; to your godliness add brotherly love; and to your brotherly love add love. (2 Peter 1.5)
As the Emperor Commodus told Russell Crowe in Gladiator:
The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story.
Then he craftily stabbed Russell Crowe in the back with his secret dagger.
Carbon emissions cause greenhouse conditions; greenhouse conditions capture the rays of the sun; the rays of the sun produce global warming; global warming means rising sea temperatures. Rising sea temperatures mean that the Maldives will soon disappear under the waves.
I think we ought to try and bring back doubling up; doubling up means that people remember your product; your product is what keeps your company in business; and your business is the reason that you are here today.
A level students only:
This doubling up in classical Greek (again!) is called Anadiplosis. You can soon spot it in all those Shakespeare plays. He loved using it!
Using the word Anadiplosis in an A level Essay will gain you a very high grade. High grades are, after all, what you are trying to achieve.
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