Sunday, July 17, 2011

Rhetoric - epistrophe



epistrophe [ɪˈpɪstrəfi] n.

1.) The emphatic repetition of a sound, word, or phrase at the end of successive clauses, verses, or sentences. One of the best-known examples of epistrophe in American rhetoric is in the concluding sentence of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Also termed "epiphora" (Garner's Modern American Usage 3rd Edition).

Etymology: Modern Latin, adopted from Greek ἐπιστροϕή: from ἐπί, upon + στροϕή, a turning, from στρέϕειν, to turn.

"For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can" ("New Hampshire Primary Defeat Speech", Barack Obama, 2008).


(Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1861)
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Just a quick reminder that today is the last day for your submissions to the weekly challenge: a paragraph using 5 of emulous, propitiatory, prima facie, lineament, hermetic, violon d'Ingres, and weltschmerz. Thanks for reading!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dammit, i missed the weekly challenge...again. I keep wanting to do this but forget, hahaha.

MRanthrope said...

Lincoln > Obama....the beard makes all the difference.

Katie said...

So interesting... as always. I can't remember ever hearing that word.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Great word and fab examples!

Mai Yang said...

I think I heard this during our literature class way back. lol

shari said...

I didn't even know that there was a word for that... good one!

Unknown said...

Good example for this one

Unknown said...

I'm always amazed at the new terms that I learn from your blog. It's really helpful in more ways than one. Especially since you always add a quote and an image.

Shutterbug said...

I feel smarter already!

braumaman said...

Another word I'm going to try and use.

dwizzt said...

thanks for this amazing word of the day

themajessty said...

these words are pretty cool but I would love to know some that can be easily used in daily conversation/writing. For someone as shallow and vain as me, the only reason I seek to improve my vocabulary is so I can use it to impress/pick up guys. Kind of like an epigamic quality that I can use to substitute for my lack of boobage. ;)

Once Upon A Time... said...

re your comment: no it wasn't fiction, if it was I would have put the title in the "Pretty-Pink Stories" page link. didn't really understand what you meant by "blurring the line"?

jos xx

Anonymous said...

Interesting! :)

btw thanks for the comment on my blog and I'm following you now!

xoxo, Bree

http://vivalabreee.blogspot.com/

Jon Dujaka said...

Will definitely use this word to sound more intelligent.

Sick by Trend said...

great examples man!

xx

www.sickbytrend.com

T. Banacek said...

This is a new word for me!

Shaw said...

Lincoln < Obama
Lincoln had no swag

Daily Car Reviews said...

sweet!

Unknown said...

Awesome! I think you should be an English teacher or something like that haha ")

Jenny Woolf said...

Thanks for posting "epistrophe". A word I have never used. I don't tend to declaim, so I guess that's why. But I didn't know what it meant, either - and now I do.

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