Repetition & Refrain
Polyptoton
Repeating a word in different forms — please/pleasure, judge/judgment. The root returns while its job changes, so the idea seems to run through the whole sentence.
"The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their strength, / Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant." — Shakespeare
Don't confuse it with Epizeuxis, Diacope. Simple repetition (epizeuxis, diacope) repeats the same form; polyptoton morphs the word as it returns.
In the Reader — 9 excerpts
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
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
His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning—
moved, ants and ant lions to set traps for them, grasshoppers to jump into the air and flick their yellow wings for a second, sow bugs like little armadillos, plodding
Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame
Travels with
Devices that share a passage with polyptoton most often — company reveals character.
Anaphora 9 Parataxis 6 Asyndeton 6 Personification 5 Isocolon 5 Synecdoche 4 Passive Voice 4 Chiasmus 4
The rest of the family
Anaphora Epistrophe Symploce Epanalepsis Anadiplosis Gradatio / Climax Epizeuxis Diacope Conduplicatio