Epizeuxis
In rhetoric, an epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis.[1] A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.[2]
As a rhetorical device, epizeuxis is utilized to create an emotional appeal, thereby inspiring and motivating the audience. However, epizeuxis can also be used for comic effect.[3]
Examples
- "Dilly, Dilly!" — Bud Light King
- "Pretty, pretty good!" — Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm[4]
- "Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."—Winston Churchill
- “Isn’t it extraordinary that the Prime Minister of our country can’t even urge his Party to support his own position?! Yeah. Weak! Weak! Weak!”—Tony Blair
- "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time..."—Macbeth
- "O horror, horror, horror."—Macbeth
- "Words, words, words."—Hamlet
- "Break, Break, Break"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God."—Isaiah 40.1
- "Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain."—Guy Gavriel Kay
- "Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers. Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers!"—Steve Ballmer
- "Education, education, education."—Tony Blair
- "Never, never, never, never, never!"—King Lear
- "Location, location, location."—common phrase tied to real estate
- "The horror, the horror"—Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
- "The fools, the fools, the fools!"—Patrick Pearse[5]
- "No, no, no!"—Margaret Thatcher
- "Yes, yes, yes!"—Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
- "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"—Henry David Thoreau, Walden
- "Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotchy, scotchy scotch."—Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
- "But you never know now do you now do you now do you."— David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
- Tora! Tora! Tora!—A 1970 movie of the same name focused around the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- "I'll have your Spam. I love it. I'm having Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam."—Monty Python's Flying Circus
Alone, alone, all all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea".
—Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
References
- Arthur Quinn, Figures of Speech, Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1982.
- "Epizeuxis". Literary Devices.
- Gerard Hauser, Introduction to Rhetorical Theory, Waveland Press, Illinois, 2002.
- Goldman, Eric (4 September 2011). "Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Mister Softee" Review".
- "Oration of Patrick Pearse". www.easter1916.net.
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