RRhetoric
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Repetition & Refrain

Epanalepsis

eh-puh-nuh-LEP-sis / ɛpənəˈlɛpsɪs

Starting and ending a clause with the same word or phrase, so the sentence circles back to where it began. The loop suggests obsession, inevitability, or a self-contained truth.

"The king is dead, long live the king."

Don't confuse it with Anadiplosis. Anadiplosis repeats across a clause boundary (end of one, start of the next); epanalepsis circles within one unit.

Drill its family — Repetition & RefrainForge one yourself →

In the Reader — 2 excerpts

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass · open the passage →
For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher
— Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God · open the passage →

Travels with

Devices that share a passage with epanalepsis most often — company reveals character.

Synecdoche 3 Anaphora 3

The rest of the family

Anaphora Epistrophe Symploce Anadiplosis Gradatio / Climax Epizeuxis Diacope Conduplicatio Polyptoton