epizeuxis

literature

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epizeuxis, in literature, a form of repetition in which a word is repeated immediately for emphasis, as in the first and last lines of “Hark, Hark! the Lark,” a song in William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline:

Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings,
And Phoebus gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With every thing that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise:
Arise, arise!

This article was most recently revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.