Figure Name | epanalepsis |
Source | Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm); Rutilii Lupi (Schemata Lexeos); Isidore; Peacham (1593); Fraunce (1588) 1.22; Puttenham (1589) ("epanalepsis," "the eccho sound," "the slow return"); Day 1599; Hoskins (1599); JG Smith (1665) ("epanalepsis"); Macbeth (1876); Holmes (1806) ("epanalepsis"); De Mille (1882); Demetrius (1902) 161; Blount (1653) 8; Bullinger (1898) ("epanalepsis; or, resumption"); Norwood (1742) ("epanalepsis"); Vickers (1989) ("epanalepsis") |
Earliest Source | |
Synonyms | resumptio, the echo sound, the slow return, resumption |
Etymology | Gk. ep or epi, "in addition," ana, "again," and lepsis or leepsis, "a taking" which means "a taking up upon again" |
Type | Scheme |
Linguistic Domain |
Syntactic |
Definition |
1. Repetition of the same word or clause after intervening matter. More strictly, repetition at the end of a line, phrase, or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause. (Silva Rhetoricae) 2. Epanalepsis is a forme of speech which doth both begin and also ende a sentence with one and the same word. (Peacham) 3. A taking back: a{is} figure when a sentence is begun and ended with the same word or sound. (JG Smith) 4. Epanalepsis is the repetition that occurs when a clause or parenthesis intervenes, as in an example afforded in Professor Day's book on Rhetoric: 5. Epanalepsis words doth recommend, The same at the beginning and the end. (Holmes) 6. 182. EPANALEPSIS. 7. Epanalepsis is the repetition of the same particle in the course of a long-sustained 8. "EPANALEPSIS is the same in one sentence which SIMPLOCE or COMPLEXIO is in severall [has 'the same beginning and the same ending']" (Blount) 9. The repetition of the same word after a break, or parenthesis... In this figure the word is resumed, rather than repeated, from the beginning of another sentence: and when the word is resumed after a parenthesis it is called APOSTASIS, and the parenthesis is closed by the apostasis. (Bullinger, 219-220) 10. EPANALEPSIS. Epanalepsis, resumptio, from the Greek (epi, ana, and lambano,) accipio. This Figure makes use of the same word or expression in the beginning and ending of the same sentence. (Norwood, 70) 11. Epanalepsis (or resumptio), where the same word is repeated at the beginning a n d end of clause, a line, or sentence. (Vickers 494) |
Example |
1. "In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. " —Paul Harvey 1. "Believe not all you can hear, tell not all you believe." —Native American proverb 1. "A lie begets a lie." —English proverb 1. "To each the boulders that have fallen to each." 2. Many things of Priam she did demand, and of Hector manie things. (Virgill qtd. in Peacham) 2. Full oft she spake of Italie, of Hesperia shore full oft. (Virgill qtd. in Peacham) 2. At midnight thou wwentest out of thy house, and returnedst againe at midnight. (Cicero qtd. in Peacham) 2. O ye carelesse cities, after yeares, and dayes shall ye be brought in feare, O ye carelesse cities. (Esay in Esa.34 qtd. in Peacham) 2. Rejoyce in the Lord & againe I say rejoyce. (Paule in JPhilip.4.4 qtd. in Peacham) 4. "You would be immortal, that you might render your libertinism immortal. And can you expect a happy immortality, you who would have placed your happiness in the immortality of your sin." - Charles de la Rue, "The Dying Sinner." (Macbeth) 5. Sins stain thy beautious Soul; forsake thy Sins. (Holmes) 7. 'All Philip's achievements indeed—how he 8. "As, His superior in means, in place his superior. In sorrow was I born, and must die in sorrow. Unkindness moved me; and what can so trouble my courses, or wrack my thoughts as unkindness?" (Blount) 9. "For this case I, Paul [ the prisoner of Jesus Christ.... (then after a parenthesis of thirteen verses he resumes in verse 14), For this cause] I bow my knees," etc. -Eph. 3:1, 14 (Bullinger, 220) 10. Phil. 4. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice. 2 Sam. 18. 33. O Absalom, my son, my son. (Norwood, 70-71) 11. Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind . . . . |
Kind Of | Repetition Symmetry Addition |
Part Of | |
Related Figures | anadiplosis, symploce, figures of repetition |
Notes | Peacham says that the purpose of this figure is to position important words at both the beginning and end of a sentence. Placing the word at the beginning of the sentence allows it to be "considered" and placing the word at the end allows it to be "remembered." Another benefit of using this figure is that "it has a sweetnesse in the sound of repetition." Of course, Peachman argues, the length of the sentence and space between the repeated words must be balanced, neither too close nor too distance from one another. |
Confidence | Unconfident |
Last Editor | Daniel Etigson |
Confidence | Unconfident |
Editorial Notes | |
Reviewed | No |