USING RHETORIC: Anaphora & Amplification

Rhetoric is the art of using language. As you write, you use words to tell a story. Your goal as a writer should be to do that in a way no other writer does. Style is learned over time by reading, studying the work of others, and practice. Studying rhetoric is a great way to learn tools that add style to your writing. You’ll still need to practice these tools to develop your own style in using them, but learning what they are is the first step. There are over fifty types of rhetoric devices that can help you convey your story in a more literary or stylistic way. I’m going to focus on just a few each day.

A. Anaphora is repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences to add emphasis. Here is an example from The Tale of Desperaux, by Kate DiCamillo. Watch for the phrase “a mouse who” which is an example of anaphora.

“…A mouse who consorts with humans, a mouse who would sit right at the foot of a man, a mouse who would allow a human to touch him”—and here, the entire Mouse Council indulged in a collective shiver of disgust—“cannot be trusted.”

The repetition of the phrase “a mouse who” builds tension as the Mouse Council is about to decide the fate of little Desperaux. Here are a few more examples:

Will he study the readings? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to the lessons he has learned?

She held her baby very gently, very carefully, very lovingly.

In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. –Richard de Bury

Still they kept on, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the end of the tunnel, not knowing they were so near to Armonguard. –Jill Williamson, From Darkness Won

If we can get the car started, if we can find the road, and if we can make it through the snowy pass, we’ll be able to find the cabin.

B. Amplification is repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it each time in order to emphasize.

In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice cream—mountains of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and calories.

This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property.

Pride—boundless pride—is the bane of civilization.

He showed a rather simple taste, a taste for good art, good food, and good friends.

Amplification can combine with another rhetoric device. Below I used both anaphora and amplification to describe the royal fortress Noiz in my medieval fantasy novel, From Darkness Won.

“Noiz was a sanctuary for the royal family, a sanctuary in troubled times.”