Repetition, also repetitio, is a stylistic device found in all literary genres. Repetition is the repeated naming of the same word or a sequence of words in the same verse or in a stanza as well as in a short text section. There are different ways in which the respective element can be repeated. However, all have an amplifying effect on the receiver (reader, listener).
term
Repeats of all kinds are summarized under the term repetitio. This noun is derived from the Latin verb repetere, which can be translated retry. Consequently, the translation of the subject-term already points to its meaning: namely, the repetition. However, this is considered a sort of collective name for the individual stylistic figures of the repetition. Let’s look at an example:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The above example shows how the evangelist formulates the last words of Jesus. The example, which is regarded as a form of Exclamation (Exclamation), contains at the outset a repetition of the sequence of words My God. Since the called God is not physically present here, the salutation can also be regarded as an apostrophe. This doubling is called Geminatio, but can also be regarded as epanalysis. Another example:
Sir Mortimer, you do not surprise me, do not frighten me.
I had long since been prepared for such a message. I know my judges.
This example, which comes from Friedrich Schiller’s drama Maria Stuart, is also a kind of repetition. In contradistinction to the first example, the word sequence does not use me immediately, but at the end of two partial sentences. Equivalent words, which are at the end of verses or sentences and in the immediate vicinity, are called epiphyses.
The examples given have a similar effect on the receiver (reader, receiver): they have a clear reinforcing effect. In the first example, the duplication produces an intentity, ie, efficacy, of the statement. In the second example, the word sequence is not underlined. It became apparent that for the individual forms of repetition quite different names exist.
