The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

Anaphora: repetition that doesn't bore

My triad that begins with ''We don't need'' provides an example of anaphora, another device professional speech writers use often. Anaphora is nothing more than the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. Speech writers often combine triads with anaphora, but anaphora is also used when more than three elements are needed. For example, the keynote speaker at the 1928 Democratic convention used a sort of double anaphora very effectively to compare the philosophy of Alexander Hamilton with that of Thomas Jefferson, whose philosophy was said to have been the foundation for the ideals of Democrats. This was the convention, by the way, that nominated New York ...