ANAPHORA

Welcome to this lecture headed “ANAPHORA”. We will be discussing all about anaphora. Enjoy your lecture.

Anaphora is a rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses.

By creating toward a climax, anaphora can produce a strong emotional effect.

Adjective form of the word is : anaphoric. Anaphora is a poetic practice which derives from the Greek language meaning to “carry back” or “carry up.”

It is a rhetorical device that is made up of parallelism when successive lines or phrases start with the same words frequently used in poetry and prayers.

The repetitive sequence can be as short as a single word or as lengthy as an entire sentence.

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.

It can as well mean the use of a grammatical proxy (as a pronoun or a pro-verb) to refer to the denotation of an earlier word or group of words; 

Again, it can be used to refer  the relation between a grammatical substitute and its antecedent.

Anaphora produces a rhythmic pattern all through a written work and in addition intensifies the author’s emotions in poetry with the use of repetitive sound.

Lincoln’s “we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground”

Charles Dickens in “A Tale of Two Cities” writes, “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…”

Other writers and public figures that are historically known for mastering the use of anaphora are William Shakespeare, Francis Thompson, Langston Hughes, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and T.S. Eliot. 

See Examples and Observations, below:

Examples of Anaphora:

“We learned to ‘diagram’ sentences with the solemn precision of scientists articulating chemical equations. We learned to read by reading aloud, and we learned to spell by spelling aloud.” by Joyce Carol Oates.

“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a holiday, I needed a house in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”

“It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place.” By Holden Caulfield, 1951

“Anaphora will repeat an opening phrase or word;

Anaphora will pour it into a mould (absurd)!

Anaphora will cast each subsequent opening;

Anaphora will last until it’s tiring.” By John Hollander, 1989

“Here comes the shadow not looking where it is going,

And the whole night will fall; it is time.

Here comes the little wind which the hour

Drags with it everywhere like an empty wagon through leaves.

Here comes my ignorance shuffling after them

Asking them what they are doing.” by W.S. Merwin, ” 1993

“Good food. Good cheer. Good times” by Sir Walter Raleigh.

“We saw the bruised children of these fathers clump onto our school bus, we saw the abandoned children huddle in the pews at church, we saw the stunned and battered mothers begging for help at our doors.” By Scott Russell Sanders, 1989.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” by Rick Blaine

“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.” (Winston Churchill,

“Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in public and private life, have been the consequences of action without thought.”

“I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicize.” (Weird Science, 1985)

“I’m not afraid to die. I’m not afraid to live. I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to succeed. I’m not afraid to fall in love. I’m not afraid to be alone. I’m just afraid I might have to stop talking about myself for five minutes.”

“In God’s name, you people are the real thing. We are the illusion!

“So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now! Turn them off right now! Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of this sentence I’m speaking to you now.

“Turn them off!”

Strike as I struck the foe! Strike as I would 

Have struck those tyrants! 

Strike deep as my curse! Strike!-and but once!

This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, 

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 

This other Eden, demi-paradise, 

This fortress built by Nature for herself.

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. 

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. 

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. 

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. 

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. 

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. 

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. 

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. 

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. – Martin Luther King Jr (Speech: I Have a Dream)

Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! – William Shakespeare 

It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place.- J D Salinger 

I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. – Raymond Chandler 

She didn’t speak. She didn’t stand. She didn’t even look up when we came in.

Every breath you take 

Every move you make 

Every bond you break 

Every step you take 

I’ll be watching you 

Every single day 

Every word you say 

Every game you play 

Every night you stay 

I’ll be watching you – The Police 

I’m tired of being white trash, broke and always poor 

Tired of taking pop bottles back to the party store 

I’m tired of not having a phone 

Tired of not having a home to have one in if I did have it on 

Tired of not driving a BM 

Tired of not working at GM, tired of wanting to be him 

Tired of not sleeping without a Tylenol PM 

Tired of not performing in a packed coliseum – Eminem 

If I could call it a drink, 

call it a smile on da rocks. 

If I could call out a price, 

let’s say I call out a lot. – Nelly (Song: Grillz)

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag 

Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? 

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin 

Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in? 

Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under? 

Scream but no one seems to hear a thing 

Do you know that there’s still a chance for you 

‘Cause there’s a spark in you? Songs Katy Perry

“Why I never walked away 

Why I played myself this way – Linkin Park”

“And do you now put on your best attire? 

And do you now cull out a holiday? 

And do you now strew flowers in his way 

That comes in triumph over Pompey’s blood? Be gone! – William Shakespeare”

“Water, water, everywhere, 

And all the boards did shrink; 

Water, water, everywhere, 

Nor any drop to drink. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge” 

“I fled Him down the nights and down the days; 

I fled Him, down the arches of the years; 

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways. – Francis Thompson” 

“In every cry of every man, 

In every infant’s cry of fear, 

In every voice, in every ban, 

The mind-forged manacles I hear.

Five years have passed; 

Five summers, with the length of 

Five long winters! and again I hear these waters – William Wordsworth (Poem: Tintern Abbey)”

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.

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua