Emphasis and Impact:
* Highlighting Key Ideas: Repetition draws attention to specific words, phrases, or lines, emphasizing their importance and driving home the poem's central themes.
* Creating Rhythm and Sound: Repetition contributes to the musicality of the poem, building rhythm and establishing a consistent sound pattern. This can be especially effective in creating a sense of urgency, solemnity, or even playful rhythm.
* Heightening Emotional Impact: Repetition can intensify the emotional impact of a poem. The repetition of a word or phrase can create a sense of urgency, sorrow, joy, or any other emotion the poet intends to convey.
Structure and Meaning:
* Creating Structure: Repetition can be used to build structure within a poem, like in a refrain or chorus, establishing a framework for the poem's development.
* Developing Themes: Repeating certain words or phrases can create a sense of unity within the poem, linking different sections and highlighting recurring themes.
* Building Tension: The repetition of a word or phrase can create tension, especially if the repeated element is negative or ominous.
Specific Examples:
* Anaphora: Repetition of the same words or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences. Example: "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire." (Winston Churchill)
* Epiphora: Repetition of the same words or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Example: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
* Refrain: A repeated line or phrase that appears throughout the poem. Example: "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.
* Internal Repetition: Repetition of words or phrases within the same line or sentence. Example: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep." (Robert Frost)
Ultimately, the use of repetition is a powerful tool that poets use to achieve a wide range of effects, adding layers of meaning, depth, and emotional impact to their work.