Repetition

If something is important it is worth repeating, and repeating, and repeating.

Introduction

We have already looked at repetition as an element of meter; however, here we are not talking about the repeated use of beats or sounds, but the replication of entire words or phrases. 

Mad Girl's Love Song

Let's consider some examples of repetition (in bold) from Sylvia Plath's villanelle Mad Girl's Love Song.

A villanelle is a highly-structured poem which makes deliberate use of repetition to reinforce its core theme. In this case, Plath's poem explores the speaker's infatuation with someone who may or may not exist. 

The speaker's uncertainty about what is real or imagined can be seen through the repetition of the line "I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead", which is replicated in the opening line and at the end of stanza two. This line continues to be repeated throughout the poem, causing the listener to question whether they are experiencing the 'real' world or an 'imagined' world in the mind of the speaker (a suspicion planted by the poem's title).

In addition, the line "(I think I made you up inside my head)" is repeated at the end of stanzas one and three, reinforcing the idea that the target of the speaker's infatuation may not exist. Such repetition is powerful, forcing the listener to question the speaker's reliability, while also sympathising with their uncertainty.

Types of Repetition

While a poet can repeat any word or phrase to reinforce a key idea, there are two terms associated with repetition that it is worth being aware of.

Anaphora

Anaphora refers to the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of lines. 

Consider the repetition of the word If in Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name, in which a father gives advice to his son:

As with all repetition, anaphora reinforces an idea. However, because it occurs at the beginning of a line, it can also help to set up whatever follows, creating a sense of anticipation and expectation for the reader. 

Epiphora (epistrophe)

Epiphora is the opposite of anaphora, in that it refers to repetition at the end of two or more lines. Unlike anaphora, which sets up what is to come, epiphora provides a sense of finality to a composition.

Consider the following example from the Nirvana song Lithium, in which the speaker describes their grief after losing a lover:

While the beginning of each of the lines reveal the speaker's conflicted emotions about their role in their lover's death, the repetition of the phrase I'm not gonna crack reinforces their resolution about not giving way to despair. 

Epiphora is essentially the "last word" in a poem and is intended to stick in the mind of the listener once a composition is finished. 

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Euphony & Cacophony