AUTHOR’S GAB, READER TALK.
A LETTER TO YOU, THE READER, SO THAT YOU CAN FINALLY FIGURE OUT WHAT I’M THINKING.
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THIS MONTH: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
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“If you have discovered a truth, tell it first to a parrot! Every new truth needs an insistent repetition!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan, contemporary Turkish novelist and playwright
Dear Reader,
As a writer, I’ve been taught that there is one sordid thing you should never do: repeat words. You can repeat lines. You can have a repeating meter. Heck, you can even have, *gasp*, a repeating rhyme. But, if you dare have two of the same word in your writing, anywhere, especially your poetry: a) there better be a good reason for it, or, b) it’s a flaw in your writing and you best get rid of it. So, when I found myself, mostly unconsciously, repeating the words “this” and “again” while I was writing “Reconciliation”, something in me became increasingly annoyed. I tried to convince myself that the repetition was for the best, and that it would help drive home the point of my poem. But, something in me couldn’t live with myself if I left the repetition in and hit the “publish” button. Aside from working out the ending, it actually became one of the larger conflicting points of writing the poem, complete with a brain-wracking walk around my house and a “I’ll sleep on it” to make the final decision. It got me thinking about repetition, however, and when and if to use it in my poems. Seriously, what IS the big deal about repeating a word or two? Why do we feel the need, to call ourselves modern poets, to abandon all repetition and rhyming? Why write it off as “old hat”, when using it in our poetry can be just as useful, creative and inventive today as it was back then? And, if that’s the case, when and how should we use it? Consider rhyming to be another Ad Lib, and let’s just focus on repetition today and attempt to answer these questions. Let’s talk about what repetition is, how it has been used in the past, and what it can mean in our poetry today. And then, let’s talk about what repetition is, how it has been used in the past, and what it can mean in our poetry today. And then, let’s talk about what repetition is, how it has been used in the past, and what it can mean in our poetry today. See what I did there?? 😉 According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, repetition is the act of repeating (saying something that has already been said) something that has already been said or written, like what I did two paragraphs ago. Poetically, it “is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer,” (“Repetition“). This makes it an extremely useful rhetorical device as well, because a phrase or sentence or poetic line could be repeated to highlight its significance in regards to the greater text or to amplify an emotion. You have to do it correctly, however, because, while good repetition can unify a poem and enhance it, bad repetition can easily destroy everything. In other words, knowing when to keep repeating and when to stop repeating is key, but it is still purely subjective to the goal you wish to accomplish with the piece. Some types of repetition include:
- adominatio
- alliteration
- anaclasis
- anadiplosis
- anaphora
- antistasis
- assonance
- coenotes
- conduplicato
- consonance
- commoratio
- diacope
- diphora
- disjunctio
- epanodos
- epanalepsis
- epimone
- epiphoria
- epistrophe
- epizeuxis
- exergasia
- expolitio
- graditio
- hypozeuxis
- homiologia
- homoioptoton
- homoioteleton
- isocolon
- mesarchia
- mesodiplosis
- negative-positive restatement
- palilogia
- paregmenon
- paroemion
- paromoiosis
- ploce
- pleonasmus
- polyptoton
- polysyndeton
- refrain
- repotia
- scesis onomaton
- symploce
- synonymia
- tautolgia
- traductio
For definitions for these terms, visit:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetition_(rhetorical_device)
- http://literarydevices.net/repetition/
- http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.com/2011/05/repetition-different-types-and-meanings.html
- http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/Groupings/of%20repetition.htm
Historically, there are several famous poems that use repetition, such as Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells“, “War is Kind” by Stephan Crane, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost and, one of my personal favorites, “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman. Poe uses repetition to create a memorable rhythm, Crane uses it to drive his point home and Frost and Whitman use it as a reoccurring thought or poignant truth. (http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/repetition-in-poems-examples-lesson-quiz.html#lesson) Repetition has also been used in meter. Free verse, for example, is a non-rhyming, less restricted form of poetry than traditional forms, like the villanelle or sestina, both which demand repetition. But, even within a form, a poem can be conversational or more song-like, straightforward or melodious in expression. Contemporary poetry tends toward the conversational or straightforward type of expression. Even slam poetry, which is heavy on melody and rhythm, often tends to veer away from outright melodic expression. The closest we get to this form of expression may just actually be modern songs themselves, if that. But, what we may fail to realize is we’re missing out. As I have said, there are many kinds of repetition, all of which are very useful, enhancing tools for pointing out something of significance, clarifying a point or solidifying a truth. This way, placed correctly in a poem or piece of writing in general, repetition can provide the necessary unification to a piece so many modern writers desire but are unsure if they will achieve. Such achievement is usually left up to interpretation and the question, “Did you get it?” or “Do you understand?”, when the key to said understanding could simply be repeating whatever it is you mean to communicate. Perhaps, in our search to connect with our readers and to be different, unique and more inventive than our predecessors, we have casually forgotten and/or ignored the power of restatement. So, for our poetry and writing in general today, I would say there is nothing wrong with a little repetition. It’s not a flaw in our writing to use the same word or phrase twice, because maybe it communicates what we really want the reader to understand or makes them pay more attention to what we’re trying to say. Repetition screams at the reader: READ IT AGAIN! And, after they read it again, maybe they will ask why and glean something from our writing. But, on the other hand, if this is the case, carelessness is not allowed. Because, as people are fond of saying, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Think about that.~ Think about that.~ Think about that.~
The Rose 