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Anaphora in poetry

 Anaphora is used by poets to convey the tone or meaning behind the words
to the reader. Additionally, it is used to create rhythm, emphasize certain
ideas or themes, and engage the reader through repetition.

Examples
1. “London” by William Blake
“In every cry of every Man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,”

2. “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” by Winston Churchill


We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills.

3. ”Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas


“Do not go gentle into that good night... Do not go gentle into that good night... Do
not go gentle into that good night...”

4. ”Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman


“I celebrate myself, and sing myself... I celebrate myself, and sing myself... I
celebrate myself, and sing myself...”

5. ”The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot


“In the room the women come and go... In the room the women come and go... In
the room the women come and go...”

6. ”The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe


“Once upon a midnight dreary... Once upon a midnight dreary... Once upon a
midnight dreary...”

7. In “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, she intensified her will to overcome by


itemizing repeated forms of mistreatment using the phrase “you may”:
“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,”

8. In “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman, she punctuated her hope for
unity and healing by repeating the phrase "we will".
"We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west.
We will rise from the windswept northeast,
where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sunbaked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover."

9. Conversely, anaphora can emphasize opposing ideas.


For example, “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.”
References
 https://smartblogger.com/anaphora-examples/

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