What Is Anadiplosis? | Definition & Examples
Anadiplosis is a literary device that puts a word or phrase at the end of one sentence or clause and at the beginning of the subsequent one. Anadiplosis is used to build emphasis or to help the audience follow a line of argument.
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
What is anadiplosis?
Anadiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of one sentence or clause and the beginning of the next. The word or phrase doesn’t have to be the very first word in the next clause or sentence, but the repetition needs to be close enough to create the required impact.
“Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action.”
In this extract from Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, the narrator repeats a phrase within a single sentence.
“What I present here is what I remember of the letter, and what I remember of the letter I remember verbatim (including that awful French).”
Anadiplosis examples
There are examples of anadiplosis to be found in literature, politics, television, and popular music.
In his song “Hey Rose,” Mikolas uses anadiplosis to convey the sense of loss and confusion he feels:
“Oh, do I need somebody?
Not just somebody
To know what it’s like when you love somebody …”
There are many examples to be found in literature, and poetry especially is suited to the emphasis and rhythm provided by the technique.
“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,”
T. S. Eliot uses anadiplosis several times in his poem “Ash Wednesday,” including this example from the second section:
“And God said
Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only
The wind will listen.”
Religious texts, including the Bible and hymns, often feature anadiplosis, partly for the additional emphasis it provides and for its lyrical power.
“’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.”
The Bible itself frequently uses anadiplosis, as in this example from John’s Gospel 1:1-5, which contains several examples.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (New International Version)
Anadiplosis vs antimetabole
There is a similar literary device called antimetabole, which also involves the repetition of words or phrases, but in reverse order.
So, although all instances of antimetabole are also anadiplosis, not all cases of anadiplosis are antimetabole. You can consider antimetabole as a subset of anadiplosis.
“I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.”
In these next two examples, the anadiplosis is antimetabole because the word order of the repeated phrase is reversed:
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” —Macbeth by William Shakespeare
“We must eat to live, not live to eat” —L’Avare by Molière
Frequently asked questions about anadiplosis
Cite this Scribbr article
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Marshall, T. (2025, February 06). What Is Anadiplosis? | Definition & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 24, 2025, from https://www.scribbr.com/rhetoric/anadiplosis/
