USE REPETITION FOR EFFECT
Communicators who use words in novel and memorable ways are much more persuasive.
When Lincoln spoke of:
"government of the people, by the people, for the people" at Gettysburg in 1863, he exploited a technique called stylized repetition. The impact "of the people, by the people, for the people", comes from the repetition of the same phrase at the end of successive phrases or sentences. In rhetoric, parallel like endings are called antistrophe or epistrophe.
The use of like beginnings is called anaphora or epanaphora. The most quoted lines from Abraham Lincoln's second Inaugural Address, delivered in 1865, created impact by repeating the beginnings of successive phrases:
"With malice toward none,
with charity for all, ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access