Definition: Anaphora is a rhetorical technique, where you repeat a word or phrase, for dramatic effect, at the beginning of successive clauses. (Usually this means sentences.)
It is used by poets.
It is used by politicians.
It has a gravitas and simple beauty that makes it memorable.
It is powerful.
It can be over used…
Mark Forsyth, in his book ,The Elements of Eloquence, jests that by using it, you risk making this the only part of a speech that people will remember… (But would they have remembered the other bits, anyway?)
Winston Churchill used it in his ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech.
Paul Keating used it in his Redfern speech:
We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.
We brought the diseases. The alcohol.
We committed the murders.
We took the children from their mothers.
We practised discrimination and exclusion.
U2 used it in ‘One’:
One love.
One blood.
One life.
You got to do what you should.
Justin Bieber used it in ‘Baby’:
I’ll buy you anything; I’ll buy you any ring.
…
Like baby, baby, baby, nooooooooo.
Like baby, baby, baby, oooooooooh.
Yes, indeed. Memorable stuff.
