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Anaphoric parallelism

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Repetition of the same grammatical structure across successive lines or clauses for emphasis

Detailed Definition
Anaphoric parallelism uses repeated syntactic structures at the beginnings of successive lines or clauses to create rhythm, emphasis, and thematic unity; common in biblical poetry and modern free verse, it builds momentum and underscores key ideas through recurrence.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ginsberg’s "Howl": “who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up…” repeats “who” for incantation; Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech uses poetic anaphora; Biblical Psalms employ “Bless the Lord, O my soul” for liturgical emphasis; Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” builds resilience through repeated “I rise”; Anaphoric parallelism creates rhythm, urgency, and emotional accumulation.
Additional Notes
Successive phrases beginning with identical words, creating rhythmic emphasis and rhetorical power. Common in psalms, political speeches, and incantatory verse. Compare with epistrophe (end-repetition) for different effects.
Also Known As
Anaphoric structure Repetitive parallelism Beginning-repeat parallelism
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