Anaphora

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Anaphora
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Anaphora Definition

• Anaphora is a rhetorical device that consists of
  repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings
  of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them
  emphasis.

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Anaphora Examples

• What the hammer? what the chain?
• In what furnace was thy brain?
• What the anvil? what dread grasp
• Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
• William Blake, "The Tyger"

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Anaphora Examples

• It was the best of times, it was the worst of
  times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age
  of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
  was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season
  of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
  the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
  we had everything before us, we had nothing
  before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we
  were all going direct the other way...
• Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

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Anaphoras Purpose

• Anaphora draws attention and emphasis to the word
  or phrase that it repeats. This focuses the
  reader on essential details.

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Anaphora Exercise

• Set up a document in Notability called Hayden and
  Anaphora.
• At the top of your document, type your own
  definition of anaphora and why it is used.
• Find one example of anaphora in Frederick
  Douglass by Robert Hayden. In Notability, write
  down the word(s) that is repeated, which line(s)
  the word appears on, and how many times per line
  it is repeated.
• For your example, write what detail the anaphora
  draws us to, and how that contributes to the
  poems overall meaning.