Epimone repeats the same wording or nearly the same thought several times in order to press a point upon the reader. In a poem of protest, a recurring demand such as “Who will answer?” can sound like a chant; in an elegy, a repeated name can register grief’s inability to release the dead. The device may create rhythm and unity, but its deepest effect is psychological, making readers feel the speaker’s fixation, desperation, conviction, or disbelief.

Epimone is insistent repetition, often of a question, command, accusation, or declaration. Because the repeated words do not move on easily, they can convey grief, anger, panic, determination, or obsession. A refrain may function as epimone when its return feels forceful rather than merely musical. Consider how repetition changes meaning as surrounding lines alter the context.