Epistrophe: Definition, Examples, and Related Terms

You may have been told time and time again that repeating words in your writing is a bad thing. It shows limited vocabulary, lack of creativity, and is, well, repetitive. What they don’t explain though, is that it’s entirely situational.

Repetition, when used properly, gives your writing that extra spice that helps your readers dive deeper into your works. One way that writers utilize this repetition is called epistrophe.

What Is Epistrophe?

Epistrophe is the repetition of words or phrases at the end of successive clauses, verses, and sentences. It’s also known as epiphora or antistrophe.

It’s important to note that the repeated words or phrases can slightly differ from one another. It doesn’t interfere with the rhythm or the emphasis of the repetition.

It comes from the Greek word epistrophē, meaning “turning about.”

Purpose of Epistrophe

Epistrophe can be used in many ways. Its main objective is to emphasize a word or an idea, making them more memorable. Doing so creates an emotional appeal that connects your readers more closely to you. As such, you’ll often find examples of it in persuasive writing and speeches.

And because a certain word is repeated, it’s immediately obvious that the writer is trying to make a point. The readers and listeners would then be able to more easily understand the core of what is being said.

Artistically, epistrophe creates a rhythm that is pleasant to read or listen to. This makes poems, songs, and books with epistrophe more enjoyable.

Epistrophe in Popular Culture

Below are a few examples of epistrophe found in many works of popular culture.

1. Aragorn’s Speech in The Return of the King

Here’s a transcript of the part where Aragorn uses epistrophe:

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight!

2. Single Ladies by Beyonce

Here’s part of the lyrics:

Cause if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it.

If you liked it then you should've put a ring on it.

Don't be mad once you see that he want it.

If you liked it then you should've put a ring on it.

3. Manny’s eulogy for his turtle in Modern Family

When Jay accidentally kills Manny’s pet turtle, Manny pens a heartfelt goodbye letter that says:

Shel Turtlestein was many things, but above all he was my friend. When I didn't get a date with Fiona Gunderson, Shel was there. When I didn't get to play the part of Tevye, Shel was there. And when a raccoon broke into my room, unfortunately, Shel was there.

4. John Bender on The Breakfast Club

When the teenagers in detention are discussing their largely different lives, Bender and Claire get into an argument:

Don't you ever talk about my friends! You don't know any of my friends. You don't look at any of my friends. And you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends.

5. “Be a Pepper” commercial by Dr. Pepper

In the long-running ad campaign, various artists (including Michael Jackson, Popeye the Sailorman, and David Naughton as shown above) are featured singing the line:

I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper, we're a Pepper. Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too? Dr. Pepper.

Epistrophe in Literature

There are many examples of epistrophe in literature. Here are some of the most prominent ones:

6. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ – I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build, why, I’ll be there.

7. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Bassiano: Sweet Portia,
If you did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring
And would conceive for what I gave the ring
And how unwillingly I left the ring,
When nought would be accepted but the ring,
You would abate the strength of your displeasure. 

Portia: If you had known the virtue of the ring,
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honour to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring. 

8. 1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

9. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“Death is Nature’s remedy for all things, and why not Legislation’s? Accordingly, the forger was put to Death; the utterer of a bad note was put to Death; the unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death; the purloiner of forty shillings and sixpence was put to Death; the holder of a horse at Tellson’s door, who made off with it, was put to Death; the coiner of a bad shilling was put to Death; the sounders of three-fourths of the notes in the whole gamut of Crime, were put to Death.”

10. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Related Terms

Anaphora is a figure of speech that also makes use of repetition to create emphasis. The difference is that, while epistrophe is found at the end of successive clauses, verses, and sentences, anaphora is found at the beginning.

Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities makes heavy usage of anaphora in its opening paragraph:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...

Symploce, on the other hand, is the marriage of epistrophe and anaphora. It happens when a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and end of two or more consecutive clauses, verses, or sentences.

For example, here’s a famous quote by the Greek orator, Aeschines:

Against yourself you are calling him,
against the laws you are calling him,
against the democratic constitution you are calling him

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• Anaphora: How to Use Strategic Repetition in Writing
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• Hyperbaton vs. Anastrophe: What’s the Difference?
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