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Épanalepse

French
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

A rhetorical figure consisting of the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a verse line or sentence, creating a circular enclosing structure. Used for emphasis and musical effect.

Detailed Definition
The épanalepse is a figure of repetition that encloses a syntactic unit between identical or similar words, placing the same term at both the opening and closing of a line or clause. This creates a circular structure that enacts containment, insistence, or the return of an idea upon itself. In French lyric poetry, it reinforces musical effects through the echo of repeated sounds and creates rhetorical emphasis through the double occurrence of the key term. It differs from the anaphore, which repeats only at the beginning of successive units, by its specifically enclosing, bracket-like distribution.
Example
Example in poetry:
In the line "La vie est un voyage, et le voyage est la vie," the word voyage returns at the end of the line to close the circle of the comparison, creating an épanalepse that enacts formally the circular identity it asserts semantically; Ronsard opens and closes a stanza with the same invocation of his beloved's name, the épanalepse creating a frame of desire that contains and encloses the stanza's meditation on beauty like arms surrounding a cherished object; "Partir, c'est mourir un peu; mourir, c'est partir pour toujours" uses épanalepse across a longer unit, the circular return of related words creating a meditation on departure and death that folds back on itself; A student practicing épanalepse should write lines in which the first and last words are identical, then examine what emotional and logical effects the circular structure creates compared to a version of the same line that opens and closes differently; The épanalepse is a figure of insistence and obsession, its circular return suggesting a mind that cannot escape a central thought, making it particularly effective in love poetry and in meditations on grief, where the return of the same word mirrors the return of the same pain; In classical rhetoric, the épanalepse was associated with passionate speech, with the orator or poet returning to a key word because no substitute can adequately replace it, the repetition itself enacting the inescapable centrality of the concept.
Additional Notes
Épanalepse relies on strategic repetition to frame an utterance, creating emphasis, enclosure, or emotional insistence. French rhetorical analysis values precise terminology, so students should distinguish it from broader repetitive devices such as anaphore or simple lexical recurrence. The repeated phrase may create circularity, obsession, or solemn closure. Compare examples across classical and modern poetry to see how repetition shifts from formal rhetorical control toward psychological expressiveness.
Also Known As
Repetition Epanalepsis
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