Polyptoton is the stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated (e.g. "strong" and "strength"). A related stylistic device is antanaclasis, in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a different sense. In inflected languages polyptoton is the same word being repeated but appearing each time in a different case. (e.g. "Iuppiter," "Iovis," "Iovi," "Iovem," "Iove" [in Latin being the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative forms of Iuppiter (Jupiter), respectively]).
Examples
- "The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;" William Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida, I, i, 7-8
- "With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder." William Shakespeare Richard II II,i,37
- "Not as a call to battle, though embattled we are." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
- "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 1933.
- "Thou art of blood, joy not to make things bleed." Sir Philip Sidney
- "We have been...treading trodden trails for a long, long time." Dave Matthews Band, So Much to Say, 1996
References
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
See also
|
