Ordinary repetition

. . . a, . . . a . . ., a . . . . .

a . ., . . a . ., . . a . .

no definite place in the sentence, the repeated unit occurs in various positions.

The stylistic function is to emphasise both the logical and the emotional meaning of the reiterated word (phrase). (V.A.K.)

Halfway along the right-hand side of the dark brown hall was a dark brown door with a darkbrown settie beside it. (W.S.Gilbert)

I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. (O.Wilde)

It is a repeated use of the same word or sentence one after the other.

e.g. He was the man in the Iron Mask. A grey metallic face with iron cheekbones and narrow iron brow, iron folds, hard and unchanging, ran perpendicularly down his cheeks, his nose was the iron beak of some thin delicate bird of ravine.

Anaphora

Anaphora (анафора) a . . . , a . . . , a . . . , -- the beginning of two or more sentences (clauses) is repeated.

The main stylistic function is not so much to emphasise the repeated unit as to create the background for the non-repeated unit, which, through its novelty, becomes foregrounded. (V.A.K.)

And everywhere were people. People going into gates and coming out of gates. People staggering and falling. People fighting and cursing. (P.Abrahams)

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see

So long lives this and this gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare - XVIII)

The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses or paragraphs.

e.g. At Crome all the beds were ancient hereditary pieces of furniture. Huge beds like four-masted ships. Beds carved and inlaid. Beds painted and gilded. Beds of walnut and oak, of rare exotic woods. Beds of every date and fashion.

Epiphora

Epiphora, as opposed to anaphora, is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses, sentences and stanzas.

e.g. She gave me an impression of extraordinary tightness. Her plain face with its narrow lips was tight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones, her smile was tight, her hair was tight, her clothes were tight, and the white shawl she wore had all the effect of black bombazine.

Epiphora (эпифора) . . . a, . . . a, . . . a, -- the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated.

The main stylistic function is to add stress to the final words of the sentence. (V.A.K.)

I wake up and I'm alone and I walk round Warley and I'm alone; and I talk with people and I'm alone and I look at his face when I'm home and it's dead. (J.Braine)

Framing

Framing (рамка, кольцевой повтор) a . . . a -- the beginning of the sentence is repeated in the end, thus forming the "frame" for the non-repeated part of the sentence (utterance).

The stylistic function is to elucidate the notion mentioned in the beginning of the sentence, to concretise and to specify its semantics. (V.A.K.)

Obviously - this is a streptococcal infection. Obviously. (W.Deeping)

Then there was something between them. There was. There was. (T.Dreiser)

The initial elements are repeated at the end of an utterance or a paragraph.

e.g. You've made a nice mess, you have.

The dayhad fairly begun to break. Many of the lamps were already extinguished; a Jew country wagons were slowly toiling on, towards London; now and then, a stage coach covered with mud, rattled briskly by... The public houses were already open... The busy morning of the half of the London population had begun.

Anadiplosis/Catch repetition

Anadiplosis (анадиплозис, подхват, эпаналепсис, стык) . . . a, a . . . -- the end of one clause (sentence) is repeated in the beginning of the following one.

The stylistic function is to elucidate the notion, to concretise and to specify its semantics on a more modest level. (V.A.K.)

Now he understood. He understood many things. One can be a person first. A man first and then a black man or a white man. (P.Abrahams)

And a great desire for peace, peace of no matter what kind, swept through her. (A.Bennet)

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see

So long lives this and this gives life to thee. (W.Shakespeare - XVIII)

It is a repetition of the word or group of words that end one clause (or sentence) at the beginning of the next one.

e.g. She was ever so beautiful, more beautiful than "D ", or "Mademoiselle", or "Auntie" June or even "Auntie Folly”, to whom he had taken a fancy.

Chain Repetition

Chain repetition . . . a, a . . . b, b. . . several successive repetitions The effect is that of the smoothly developing logical reasoning. (V.A.K.) "To think better of it," returned the gallant Blandois, "would be to slight a lady, to slight a lady would be to be deficient in chivalry towards the sex, and chivalry towards the sex is a part of my character." (Ch.Dickens) Failure meant poverty, poverty meant squalor, squalor led, in the final stages, to the smells and stagnation of B. Inn Alley. (D. du Maurier)

It is the succession of several anadiploses.

e.g. Rapidly the feeling became a strong hunch, the hunch became a conviction, and the conviction became a compulsion. He absolutely had to get home.

Enumeration

Enumeration (перечисление) -- a SD by which separate things, objects, phenomena, properties, actions are named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which, being syntactically in the same position (homogeneous parts of speech), are forced to display some kind of semantic homogeneity, remote through it may seem. (I.R.G.)

- integrates both homogeneous and heterogeneous elements into one whole, unlike polysyndeton

The principal production of these towns ... appear to be soldiers, sailors, Jews, chalk, shrimps, officers and dock-yard men. (Ch.Dickens - Pickwick Papers)

It is a stylistic device by which separate things, properties or actions are brought together forming a chain of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of an utterance.

e.g. She wasn't sure of anything anymore, of him, herself their friends, her work, their future.

Suspense

Suspense -- a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence with the help of embedded clauses (homogeneous members) separating the predicate from the subject and introducing less important facts and details first, while the expected information of major importance is reserved till the end of the sentence (utterance) (V.A.K.)

•• a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence (I.R.G.)

Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw. (Ch.Lamb)

Suspense (or retardation) is a stylistic devise based on the author's desire to delay giving the reader (or listener) the most important information. In trying to do so he puts the less important, subordinate facts and details first withholding the main idea till the end of the sentence.

e.g. Two women who were hastening home to scramble their husbands' dinners together - it was five minutes to four - stopped to look at her.

The suspense in the sentence is organised by introducing a subordinate clause and a parenthetic remark between the subject and the predicate. The devise of suspense is especially favoured by orators. Its function is to keep the reader/listener in a state of uncertainty and expectation.

Climax (Gradation)

Climax (нарастание) -- a semantically complicated parallel construction , in which each next word combination (clause, sentence) is logically more important or emotionally stronger and more explicit (V.A.K.)

Three types:

- logical climax

- emotive climax

- quantitative climax

We were all in all to one another, it was the morning of life, it was bliss, it was frenzy, it was everything else of that sort in the highest degree. (Ch.Dickens)

I am firm, thou art obstinate, he is pig-headed. (B.Charlestone) No tree, no shrub, no blade of grass that was not owned. (J. Galsworthy)

•• an arrangement of sentences (or of the homogeneous parts of one sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance importance, or emotional tension in the utterance (I.R.G.)

•• расположение слов и выражений в порядке возрастающего их значения (I.V.A.)

An ascending series of words or utterances in which intensity and significance increase step by step.

e.g. Not a dollar - not a penny of my money will I devote to anyone who could be guilty of such a crime.

Depending on the nature of the phenomenon emphasised one can differentiate between three types of climax; logical, emotional and quantitative

In logical climax every consecutive word or utterance is more significant or essential than the preceding one from the logical point of view. Thus the objective or subjective author's attitude towards the thing is disclosed.

e.g. Bat for the M.R.C.P. it's the most difficult medical exam in the whole school. It's- it's murder' Tul! She's a lamb, a dove, a fool to him.

In emotional climax consecutive words or utterances are more powerful from the emotional point of view.

e.g. She was a crashing, she was a stupendous, she was an excruciating bore.

Quantitative climax is based on the intensification of quantity in each consecutive word, word group or utterance.

e.g. Mary had counted the months, the weeks, the days, the hours to Antony's return.

The vast stretch of lion-coloured sands, the vaster stretch of tumbling grey sea, the still vaster stretch of disordered grey-inky clouds which passed endlessly at a great rate from west to east across the firmament.

Anticlimax (антиклимакс, спад) -- a climax suddenly interrupted by an unexpected turn of the thought which defeats expectations of the reader (listener) and ends in complete semantic reversal of the emphasised idea (V.A.K.)

It was appalling - and soon forgotten. (J.Galsworthy)

He was unconsolable - for an afternoon. (J.Galsworthy)

Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious. (O.Wilde)

Antithesis

In order to stress certain qualities of the thing described it may be necessary to set it against another thing possessing contrasting features. Antithesis is a balanced two-step structure in which the antagonistic objects or ideas are presented by dictionary or contextual antonyms, as in: For many are called but few are chosen.

In the case of developed antithesis we deal with semantically opposed statements or pictures.

e.g. It was very sad in the street, Jake holding the box of oranges, and him walking beside Jake telling him to smile big, and the sky was sad, and there were no leaves on the trees, and the street was sad, and it was very funny, the smell of the oranges was clean and good and they looked so nice it was very funny. The oranges looked so nice and they were so sad.

One should differentiate antithesis, which is a stylistically coloured opposition, from a literary device termed contrast. The latter is based on logical opposition and adds nothing to the meaning of an utterance.