Diacope ( ) is a
rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
al term meaning repetition of a
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...
or
phrase
In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...
that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words. It derives from a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
word ''diakopḗ,'' which means "cut in two". Diacopae (or diacopes) are used in writing to emphasize or describe something. Like other forms of repetition, diacope helps express strong emotions, or help give weight to the repeated word.
Types of Diacope
Diacope can be utilized in three ways in writing. They are:
# Vocative Diacope: In this type of diacope, the repeated words are separated by nouns that are directly addressed. The noun must address something, or someone.
# Elaborative Diacope: Here an adjective is used between the repeated words to enhance the meaning of the repeated word.
# Extended Diacope: Sometimes a word is repeated thrice for even more emphasis.
Examples
* "Bond. James Bond." — James Bond
* "Put out the light, and then put out the light." —
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, ''
Othello
''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
'', Act V, scene 2.
* "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! — ''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...
''
* "You think you own whatever land you land on" — Second verse from the song "
Colors of the Wind
"Colors of the Wind" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz for Walt Disney Pictures' 33rd animated feature film, '' Pocahontas'' (1995). The film's theme song, "Colors of the Wind" was originally recorded by ...
" from the movie
''Pocahontas''
* "And we loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee" —
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
, ''
Annabel Lee''
*
Leo Marks
Leopold Samuel Marks, (24 September 1920 – 15 January 2001) was an English writer, screenwriter, and cryptographer. During the Second World War he headed the codes office supporting resistance agents in occupied Europe for the secret Special ...
's poem "
The Life That I Have",
memorably used in the film ''
Odette'', is an extended example of diacope:
: ''The life that I have''
: ''Is all that I have''
: ''And the life that I have''
: ''Is yours.''
: ''The love that I have''
: ''Of the life that I have''
: ''Is yours and yours and yours.''
: ''A sleep I shall have''
: ''A rest I shall have''
: ''Yet death will be but a pause.''
: ''For the peace of my years''
: ''In the long green grass''
: ''Will be yours and yours and yours.''
The first line in the poem not to deploy diacope is the one about death being "a pause."
* "In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." —
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...
. This is also an example of an
epanalepsis.
* "Keeps going and going and going." — Energizer Slogan (Example of Extended Diacope)
* "I am dying, Egypt, dying" — Shakespeare, ''Antony and Cleopatra'', Act IV, Scene 15. (Example of Vocative Diacope)
See also
*
Epizeuxis
*
Tmesis
References
Figures of speech
Rhetoric
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