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Repetition

It has already been pointed out that repetition is an expressive means of language used when the speaker is under the stress of strong emotion. It shows the state of mind of the speaker, as in the following passage from-Galsworthy:

"Stop!" — she cried, "Don't tell me! Idon ' twanttohear; IdonIwanttohear what you've come for. Idon ' t wanttohear ."

The repetition of Idon ' twanttohear is not a stylistic device; it is a means by which the excited state of mind of the speaker is shown. This state of mind always manifests itself through intonation, which is suggested here by the words, shecried. In the written language before direct speech is introduced one can always find words indicating the intonation as sobbed, shrieked, passionately, etc, J. Vandryes writes:

"Repetition is also one of the devices having its origin in the emotive language. Repetition when applied to the logical language becomes simply an instrument of grammar. Its origin is to be seen in the excitement accompanying the expression of a feeling being brought to its highest tension."¹

When used as a stylistic device, repetition acquires quite different functions. It does not aim at making a direct emotional impact. On the contrary, the stylistic device of repetition aims at logical emphasis, an emphasis necessary to fix the attention of the reader on the keyword of the utterance. For example:

"For that Avas it! Ignorant of the long and stealthy march of passion, and of the state to which it had reduced Fleur; ignorant of how Soames had watched her, ignorant of Fleur's reckless desperation... — ignorantof all this, everybody felt aggrieved." (Galsworthy)

Repetition is classified according to compositional design. If the repeated word (or phrase) comes at the beginning of two or more consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases, we have anaphora, as in the example above. If the repeated unit is placed at the end of consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases we have the type of repetition called epiphora, as in:

"I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position insuchacaseasthat. I am above the rest of mankind, insuchacaseasthat. I can act with philosophy insuchacaseasthat.

(Dickens)

Here the repetition has a slightly different function: it becomes a background against which the statements preceding the repeated unit are made to stand out more conspicuously. This may be called the background function. It must be observed, however, that the logical function of the repetition, to give emphasis, does not fade when it assumes the background function. This is an additional function. Repetition may also be arranged in the form of a frame: the initial parts of a syntactical unit, inmost cases of a paragraph, are repeated at the end of it as in:

" Poordoll ' sdressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the eternal road and asking guidance. Poor, littledoll ' sdressmaker ." (Dickens)

This compositional design of repetition is called framing. The semantic nuances of different compositional structures' of repetition have been little looked into. But even a superficial examination will show that framing, for example, makes the whole utterance more compact and more complete. Framing is most effective in singling out paragraphs.

Among other compositional models of repetition is linking or reduplication (also known as anadiplosis). The structure of this device is the following: the last word or phrase of one part of an utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next part, thus hooking the two parts together. The writer, instead of moving on, seems to double back on his tracks and pick up his last word.

"Freeman and slave... carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, afightthat each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes." (Marx, Engels)

Any repetition of a unit of language will inevitably cause some slight modification of meaning, a modification suggested by a noticeable change in the intonation with which the repeated word is pronounced.

Sometimes a writer may use the linking device several times in one utterance, for example:

" Asmile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: thesmile extended into alaugh: thelaugh into aroar, and theroar became general." (Dickens)

or:

"For glances beget ogles, oglessighs, sighswishes, wisheswords, and words a letter." (Byron)

This compositional form of repetition is also called chain-repetition.

What are the most obvious stylistic functions of repetition? The first, the primary one, is to intensify the utterance. Intensification is the direct outcome of the use of the expressive means employed in ordinary intercourse; but when used in other compositional designs, the immediate emotional charge is greatly suppressed and is replaced by a purely aesthetic aim as in the following example:

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