Epizeuxis

For the genus of moth, see Epizeuxis (moth).

In rhetoric, epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis. A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.

As a rhetorical device, epizeuxis is utilized to create an emotional appeal, thereby inspiring and motivating the audience. However, epizeuxis can also be used for comic effect.

Examples

• "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" — (Psalms 22.1)
• The repeated repetition -- (a triple occurrence) -- of [the word meaning] "holy" in the Kedushah in the Amidah, which -- (according to a "reference" linked to from "Kedushah (prayer)#Kedushah in the Amidah") -- seems to be derived from (or perhaps [more like] quoted from) the biblical verse Isaiah 6:3.
• "'Miserere mei, Deus; miserere mei, Deus." – Miserere (Josquin), c1504.
• "Dilly, Dilly!" — Bud Light King
• "Pretty, pretty good!" — Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm
• "Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."—Winston Churchill
• “Isn’t it extraordinary that the Prime Minister of our country can’t even urge his Party to support his own position?! Yeah. Weak! Weak! Weak!”—Tony Blair
• "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time..."—Macbeth
• "O horror, horror, horror."—Macbeth
• "Words, words, words."—Hamlet
• "Break, Break, Break"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God."—Isaiah 40.
• The title of William Faulkner’s novel: Absalom, Absalom! (see Heinrich Schütz's Fili mi Absalom)
• "Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain."—Guy Gavriel Kay
• "Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers. Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers!"—Steve Ballmer
• "Education, education, education."—Tony Blair
• "Never, never, never, never, never!"—King Lear
• "Location, location, location."—common phrase tied to real estate
• "The horror, the horror"—Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
• "We are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together"—Taylor Swift, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
• "The fools, the fools, the fools!"—Patrick Pearse
• "No, no, no!"—Margaret Thatcher
• "Yes, yes, yes!"—Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
• "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"—Henry David Thoreau, Walden
• "Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotchy, scotchy scotch."—Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• "But you never know now do you now do you now do you."— David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
• Tora! Tora! Tora!—A 1970 movie of the same name focused around the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
• "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"—The Brady Bunch
• "I'll have your Spam. I love it. I'm having Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam."—Monty Python's Flying Circus
• "The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! "—Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Alone, alone, all all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea."

—Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

• The late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke frequently employed the use of this literary device, most notably in his hit song "Dior":

"Mike Amiri, Mike Amiri

Billie Jean, Billie Jean, uh

Christian Dior, Dior…"

—Pop Smoke, "Dior"

See also

• Anaphora
• Diacope
• Contrastive focus reduplication

External links

• Text and Audio illustrations of epizeuxis