antithesis vs anaphora

Anaphora Definition

What is anaphora? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Anaphora is a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences. For example, Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech contains anaphora : "So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania..."

Some additional key details about anaphora:

• Anaphora is related to epistrophe , which is the repetition of words at the end of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.
• The term "anaphora" comes from the Greek for "to carry up or back."
• The Psalms of the Bible, which contain many instances of anaphora, helped to influence later writers to use anaphora as a way to capture they rhythms and structures of the Bible.

How to Pronounce Anaphora

Here's how to pronounce anaphora: uh- naf -er-uh

Anaphora can Include Variations

The repeated words that make anaphora can vary slightly in each instance and still count as anaphora. In fact, a writer can use such variations to amplify anaphora's effect. In his poem "London," William Blake makes use of anaphora with variation:

In every cry of every Man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

The variation from "every cry" to "every infant" sharpens Blake's claim. The next variation, located in the third line, shortens the phrase and repeats it twice, accelerating the poems rhythm and urgency. Taken as a whole, the variations of anaphora in the poem drive home Blake's message that no one in all of London is immune from the "mind-forg'd manacles" that imprison its inhabitants.

Anaphora vs. Epistrophe

Among anaphora's closest relatives is epistrophe , which is identical to anaphora except that its the repetition of one or more words at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. The oath taken by courtroom witnesses (and oft-repeated on police procedurals) is a prime example of epistrophe :

Do you swear to tell the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth ?

Anaphora + Epistrophe = Symploce

Using both anaphora and epistrophe at once creates a third figure of speech called symploce . This proverb provides an example of symploce in action:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Anaphora Examples

Anaphora appears frequently in literature, politics, and music. Below are a few famous examples of anaphora, which offer some insight into the way it works in various contexts.

Anaphora in the Bible

The Song of Songs, in the Old Testament of the Bible, contains many examples of anaphora. In this instance (from Chapter Four, Verses One and Two), there are two separate uses of anaphora: the first is the speaker's celebration of the beauty of his bride, and the second is a list of her admirable qualities.

Look at you! You are beautiful , my darling. Look at you! You are so beautiful . Your eyes behind your veil are doves your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mt. Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep about to be sheared, who are coming up from being washed.

Note that "like a flock" also repeats twice in this excerpt from the Song of Songs. While this is a kind of repetition , it's not anaphora because it doesn't come at the beginning of a sentence or phrase.

Anaphora Examples in Literature

Anaphora in jd salinger's the catcher in the rye.

In this excerpt from Chapter 20 of The Catcher in the Rye , Salinger makes use of anaphora as Holden Caulfield recalls a miserable visit to his deceased brother's grave.

It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place.

Here, Salinger's use of anaphora conveys both the relentlessness of the rain and Holden's obsessive focus on the painful memory of his brother's death.

Anaphora in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

In the famous opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities , Dickens sets the scene by using anaphora to convey the chaotic turbulence of the French Revolution, whose violent divisions form the backdrop for his story. The anaphora creates a rhythmic anchor that forces Dickens's contradictory descriptions to remain connected.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Notice that Dickens also uses other types of repetition in addition to anaphora in this passage. For instance, in this line he combines anaphora and epistrophe to make symploce :

It was the best of times , it was the worst of times ... we had everything before us , we had nothing before us ...

Anaphora in Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"

In part one of his poem "Howl," Allen Ginsberg offers many breathless lines connected through anaphora. In this excerpt, Ginsberg uses an extended metaphor to compare New York to a monster named Moloch, whose name is an allusion to a false god of the Old Testament. Moloch's name becomes an anaphora that is repeated multiple times within each line, as in the excerpt below:

Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!

The use of anaphora in this part of "Howl" creates a religious tone, as Ginsberg's repetitive verses rise to the cadence of a sermon. It also allows Ginsberg to tie together the various industrial images of the city together and connect them to his idea of Moloch, and in so doing condemn capitalist society for making what he sees as such anonymous, monstrous structures.

Anaphora in The Great Gatsby

In this short excerpt from The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses anaphora in a description of the apartment that Tom Buchanan keeps as a secret location for his extramarital affair. The anaphora emphasizes the smallness of this gaudy apartment, which also reflects the pettiness of the affair.

The apartment was on the top floor— a small living-room, a small dining-room, a small bedroom, and a bath.

Anaphora Examples in Political Speeches

Anaphora is an important tool for speechwriters, because its repetition can set a tone, rally a crowd, and focus attention on the points that the speaker wants those listening to focus on. Anaphora has been used to powerful effect by some of the most influential public figures throughout history.

Anaphora in Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" (1940)

In this iconic speech from World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was tasked with delivering the dismal news that France's position in the war against Germany was weakening. He had to warn his nation that a German invasion of Britain might be on its way while also rallying British determination to continue the fight at all costs. Churchill uses anaphora in this section of the speech to create a rallying cry, forcefully emphasizing his nation's dogged persistence in every possible arena of the war.

.... We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...

This excerpt of Churchill's speech also shows how anaphora can help to give structure and therefore meaning and interest to a list. Without the "we shall fight" to link all of the things that Churchill is saying here, they might all come across as a muddle. But the repeated "we shall fight" focuses attention on each and every item in the list.

Anaphora in Robert F. Kennedy's speech announcing the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)

After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy made an impassioned, impromptu speech in which he announced the civil rights leader's death to a largely African-American crowd in Indianapolis, and made a plea for peace. Kennedy uses anaphora to focus on the tragedy of the day's events, while implicitly begging the question: what do we need as a nation to move forward? His anaphora sets up an antithesis between the dark present and a hopeful future offered later in the passage.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

Anaphora Examples in Song

Songwriters also make frequent use of anaphora to create catchy, rhythmic lyrics that will remain lodged in the listener's memory, or to convey strong emotion.

Anaphora in "Every Breath You Take" by The Police

In their number-one-selling single of 1983, the Police make use of anaphora to help build a feel of claustrophobia within the song. Sting, the band's frontman and songwriter, has written that he intended the lyrics to capture the jealous, overbearing attitude of an obsessed ex-lover, or even the surveillance power of a Big Brother state like the one in George Orwell's 1984 . In this context, the anaphora serves to emphasize the inescapability of the singer's stalker-like gaze.

Every breath you take Every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take I'll be watching you

Anaphora in "If I Had" by Eminem

In "If I Had," Eminem uses anaphora to align his list of complaints with the rhythm of the song, and to emphasize just how tired he is of feeling trapped in poverty.

I'm tired of jobs startin' off at $5.50 an hour, then this boss wonders why I'm smartin' off I'm tired of bein' fired every time I fart and cough Tired of havin' to work as a gas station clerk For this jerk, breathin' down my neck, drivin' me berserk I'm tired of usin' plastic silverware Tired of workin' at Builder's Square Tired of not bein' a millionaire

Why Do Writers Use Anaphora?

On the simplest level, writers use anaphora to give a series of repeated words emphasis. More broadly, anaphora can produce a variety of stylistic effects. It can:

• Express a strong feeling.
• Create rhythm in text, whether that rhythm is pleasing, rousing, or relentless.
• More clearly link two or more ideas through the repeated phrasing.
• Make a phrase more memorable for the reader/listener.
• Give structure to a lengthy list.

Other Helpful Anaphora Resources

• The Wikipedia page for anaphora: Wikipedia offers its concise take on anaphora, with a wide range of examples from history, literature, and religion.
• Sound bites from history: Examples of anaphora in political speeches of the last sixty years, including targeted audio clips artfully cut from each speech. Examples range from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Hillary Clinton.
• A useful blog post : Provides a clear and simple overview of anaphora from the perspective of a former lawyer and public speaking enthusiast.
• Poets.org: A poet's perspective on this figure of speech, with the option to search the poets.org database for poems from across the centuries that have been tagged as containing anaphora. Simply scroll to the end of the explanation, and click the "read more poems featuring anaphora" button.

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Brief Introductions to Common Figures of Speech

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Of the hundreds of figures of speech , many have similar or overlapping meanings. Here we offer simple definitions and examples of 30 common figures, drawing some basic distinctions between related terms.

How to Recognize Common Figures of Speech

For additional examples and more detailed discussions of each figurative device , click on the term to visit the entry in our glossary.

A Metaphor vs. a Simile

Both metaphors and similes express comparisons between two things that aren't obviously alike. In a simile , the comparison is stated explicitly with the help of a word such as like or as : "My love is like a red, red rose / That's newly sprung in June." In a metaphor, the two things are linked or equated without using like or as : "Love is a rose, but you better not pick it."

Metaphor vs. Metonymy

Put simply, metaphors make comparisons while metonyms make associations or substitutions. The place name "Hollywood," for example, has become a metonym for the American film industry (and all the glitz and greed that go with it).

Metaphor vs. Personification

Personification is a particular type of metaphor that assigns the characteristics of a person to something non-human, as in this observation from Douglas Adams: "He turned on the wipers again, but they still refused to feel that the exercise was worthwhile, and scraped and squeaked in protest."

Personification vs. Apostrophe

A rhetorical apostrophe not only animates something absent or non-living (as in personification) but also addresses it directly. For instance, in Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River," the river is apostrophized: "Wherever you're going, I'm going your way."

Hyperbole vs. Understatement

Both are attention-getting devices: hyperbole exaggerates the truth for emphasis while understatement says less and means more. To say that Uncle Wheezer is "older than dirt" is an example of hyperbole . To say that he's "a bit long in the tooth" is probably an understatement.

Understatement vs. Litotes

Litotes is a type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. We might say litotically that Uncle Wheezer is "no spring chicken" and "not as young as he used to be."

Alliteration vs. Assonance

Both create sound effects: alliteration through the repetition of an initial consonant sound (as in "a p eck of p ickled p eppers"), and assonance through the repetition of similar vowel sounds in neighboring words ("It b ea ts . . . as it sw ee ps . . . as it cl ea ns!").

Onomatopoeia vs. Homoioteleuton

Don't be put off by the fancy terms. They refer to some very familiar sound effects. Onomatopoeia (pronounced ON-a-MAT-a-PEE-a) refers to words (such as bow-wow and hiss ) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Homoioteleuton (pronounced ho-moi-o-te-LOO-ton) refers to similar sounds at the endings of words, phrases, or sentences ("The quicker picker upper").

Anaphora vs. Epistrophe

Both involve the repetition of words or phrases. With anaphora, the repetition is at the beginning of successive clauses (as in the famous refrain in the final part of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech). With epistrophe (also known as epiphora ), the repetition is at the end of successive clauses ("When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child").

Antithesis vs. Chiasmus

Both are rhetorical balancing acts. In an antithesis, contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in balanced phrases or clauses ("Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing"). A chiasmus (also known as antimetabole ) is a type of antithesis in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed ("The first shall be last, and the last shall be first").

Asyndeton vs. Polysyndeton

These terms refer to contrasting ways of linking items in a series. An asyndetic style omits all conjunctions and separates the items with commas ("They dove, splashed, floated, splashed, swam, snorted"). A polysyndetic style places a conjunction after every item in the list.

A Paradox vs. an Oxymoron

Both involve apparent contradictions. A paradoxical statement appears to contradict itself ("If you wish to preserve your secret, wrap it up in frankness"). An oxymoron is a compressed paradox in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side ("a real phony").

A Euphemism vs. a Dysphemism

A euphemism involves the substitution of an inoffensive expression (such as "passed away") for one that might be considered offensively explicit ("died"). In contrast, a dysphemism substitutes a harsher phrase ("took a dirt nap") for a comparatively inoffensive one. Though often meant to shock or offend, dysphemisms may also serve as in-group markers to show camaraderie.

Diacope vs. Epizeuxis

Both involve the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis. With diacope, the repetition is usually broken up by one or more intervening words: "You're not fully clean until you're Zest fully clean ." In the case of epizeuxis, there are no interruptions: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

Verbal Irony vs. Sarcasm

In both, words are used to convey the opposite of their literal meanings . Linguist John Haiman has drawn this key distinction between the two devices: "[P]eople may be unintentionally ironic, but sarcasm requires intention. What is essential to sarcasm is that it is overt irony intentionally used by the speaker as a form of verbal aggression " ( Talk Is Cheap , 1998).

A Tricolon vs. a Tetracolon Climax

Both refer to a series of words, phrases, or clauses in parallel form. A tricolon is a series of three members: "Eye it, try it, buy it!" A tetracolon climax is a series of four: "He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world."

Rhetorical question vs. Epiplexis

A rhetorical question is asked merely for effect with no answer expected: "Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?" Epiplexis is a type of rhetorical question whose purpose is to rebuke or reproach: "Have you no shame?"

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Definition of Antithesis

Antithesis is a literary device that refers to the juxtaposition of two opposing elements through the parallel grammatical structure. The word antithesis, meaning absolute opposite, is derived from Greek for “ setting opposite,” indicating when something or someone is in direct contrast or the obverse of another thing or person.

Antithesis is an effective literary and rhetorical device , as it pairs exact opposite or contrasting ideas by utilizing the parallel grammatical structure. This helps readers and audience members define concepts through contrast and develop an understanding of something through defining its opposite. In addition, through the use of parallelism , antithesis establishes a repetitive structure that makes for rhythmic writing and lyrical speech.

For example, Alexander Pope states in  An Essay on Criticism , “ To err is human ; to forgive divine.” Pope’s use of antithesis reflects the impact of this figure of speech in writing, as it creates a clear, memorable, and lyrical effect for the reader. In addition, Pope sets human error in contrast to divine forgiveness, allowing readers to understand that it is natural for people to make mistakes, and therefore worthy for others to absolve them when they do.

Examples of Antithesis in Everyday Speech

Antithesis is often used in everyday speech as a means of conveying opposing ideas in a concise and expressive way. Since antithesis is intended to be a figure of speech, such statements are not meant to be understood in a literal manner. Here are some examples of antithesis used in everyday speech:

• Go big or go home.
• Spicy food is heaven on the tongue but hell in the tummy.
• Those who can, do; those who can’t do, teach.
• Get busy living or get busy dying.
• Speech is silver but silence is gold.
• No pain, no gain.
• It’s not a show, friends; it’s show business.
• No guts, no glory.
• A moment on the lips; a lifetime on the hips.
• If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

Common Examples of Antithesis from Famous Speeches

Antithesis can be an effective rhetorical device in terms of calling attention to drastic differences between opposing ideas and concepts. By highlighting the contrast side-by-side with the exact same structure, the speaker is able to impact an audience in a memorable and significant way. Here are some common examples of antithesis from famous speeches:

• “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 .” (Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”)
• “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” (Abraham Lincoln “The Gettysburg Address”)
• “‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'” (Edward Kennedy quoting Robert F. Kennedy during eulogy )
• “We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.” (John F. Kennedy “Presidential Inaugural Speech”)
• “You see, for any champion to succeed, he must have a team — a very incredible, special team; people that he can depend on, count on, and rely upon through everything — the highs and lows, the wins and losses, the victories and failures, and even the joys and heartaches that happen both on and off the court.” (Michael Chang “ Induction Speech for Tennis Hall of Fame”)

Examples of Proverbs Featuring Antithesis

Proverbs are simple and often traditional sayings that express insight into truths that are perceived, based on common sense or experience. These sayings are typically intended to be metaphorical and therefore rely on figures of speech such as antithesis. Proverbs that utilize antithetical parallelism feature an antithesis to bring together opposing ideas in defined contrast. Therefore, antithesis is effective as a literary device in proverbs by allowing the reader to consider one idea and then it’s opposite. It also makes for lyrical and easily remembered sayings.

Here are some examples of proverbs featuring antithesis:

• Cleanliness is next to godliness.
• Beggars can’t be choosers.
• Easy come, easy go.
• Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.
• Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.
• Like father, like son.
• Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
• An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.
• Be slow in choosing, but slower in changing.
• Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.
• If you can’t beat them, join them.
• Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open.
• One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
• Out of sight, out of mind.
• Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Utilizing Antithesis in Writing

As a literary device, antithesis allows authors to add contrast to their writing. This is effective in terms of comparing two contrasting ideas, such as a character’s conflicting emotions or a setting’s opposing elements. In literature, antithesis doesn’t require a pairing of exact opposites, but rather concepts that are different and distinct. In addition, since antithesis creates a lyrical quality to writing through parallel structure , the rhythm of phrasing and wording should be as similar as possible. Like most literary and rhetorical devices, overuse of antithesis will create confusion or invoke boredom in a reader as well as make the writing seem forced.

Antithesis and Parallelism

Both terms demonstrate a fundamental difference. An antithesis comprises two contradictory ideas and parallelism does not necessarily comprise opposite ideas or persons. It could have more than two ideas or persons. As the name suggests that parallelism is a condition where is an antithesis is an opposition. For example, man proposes, God disposes, has two contradictory ideas. However, it is also a parallel sentence . Furthermore, parallelism occurs mostly in structure and less in ideas. Even similar ideas could occur in parallelism, while an antithesis has only dissimilar ideas.

Antithesis and Juxtaposition

As far as juxtaposition is concerned, it means placing two ideas together that are dissimilar. They need not be opposite to each other. In the case of antithesis, they must be opposite to each other as in the case of man proposes, God disposes. Not only these two ideas are dissimilar, but also they are opposite. In the case of juxtaposition, a poet only puts two ideas together and they are not opposed to each other.

Use of Antithesis in Sentences  

• As soon he dies, he becomes a dead living.
• Most people do not understand the value of money when the poor put money ahead of them.
• Some people make money, while some waste it.
• Although they have gone leaps ahead, they have also stepped back just in the nick of time.
• The public comes forward when there is prosperity and moves back when there is adversity.

Examples of Antithesis in Literature

Antithesis is an effective literary device and figure of speech in which a writer intentionally juxtaposes two contrasting ideas or entities. Antithesis is typically achieved through parallel structure, in which opposing concepts or elements are paired in adjacent phrases , clauses , or sentences. This draws the reader’s attention to the significance or importance of the agents being contrasted, thereby adding a memorable and meaningful quality to the literary work.

Here are some examples of antithesis in well-known works of literature:

Example 1:  Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice ; Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.

In Shakespeare’s well-known play , he utilizes antithesis as a literary device for Polonius to deliver fatherly advice to his son before Laertes leaves for France. In these lines, Polonius pairs contrasting ideas such as listening and speaking using parallel structure. This adds a lyrical element to the wording, in addition to having a memorable and foreboding impact on the characters and audience members with the meaning of each line.

Despite the attempt by Polonius to impart logical thinking, measured response, and wise counsel to his son through antithesis, Laertes becomes so fixated on avenging his father’s death that his actions are impulsive and imprudent. Polonius’s antithetical words are not heeded by his son, resulting in the death of several characters including Hamlet and Laertes himself.

Example 2:  Paradise Lost  (John Milton)

Here at least We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

In Milton’s epic poem , he explores the Fall of Satan as well as the temptation and subsequent Fall of Man. This passage is spoken by Satan after he has been condemned to Hell by God for attempting to assume power and authority in Heaven. Satan is unrepentant of his actions, and wants to persuade his followers that Hell is preferable to Heaven.

Satan utilizes antithesis in the last line of this passage to encourage his rebellious followers to understand that, in Hell, they are free and rule their own destiny. In this line, Milton contrasts not just the ideas of Hell and Heaven, but also of reign and servitude as concepts applied to the angels , respectively. Pairing these opposites by using this literary device has two effects for the reader. First, Satan’s claim foreshadows his ability to use his words describing independence to tempt Eve, resulting in her and Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Second, this antithesis invites the reader to consider Satan’s thought-process and experience to gain a deeper understanding of his motives in the poem.

Example 3:  Fire and Ice  (Robert Frost)

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

In his poem, Frost utilizes antithesis to contrast fire and ice as elements with devastating and catastrophic potential to end the world. Frost effectively demonstrates the equal powers for the destruction of these elements, despite showcasing them as opposing forces. In this case, the poet’s antithesis has a literal as well as figurative interpretation. As the poem indicates, the world could literally end in the fire as well as ice. However, fire and ice are contrasting symbols in the poem as well. Fire represents “desire,” most likely in the form of greed, the corruption of power, domination, and control. Conversely, ice represents “hate” in the form of prejudice, oppression, neglect, and isolation.

The presence of antithesis in the poem is effective for readers in that it evokes contrasting and powerful imagery of fire and ice as opposing yet physically destructive forces. In addition, the human characteristics associated with fire and ice, and what they represent as psychologically and socially destructive symbols, impact the reader in a powerful and memorable way as well. Antithesis elevates for the reader the understanding that the source of the end of the world may not be natural causes but rather human action or behavior; and that the end of the world may not be simply the destruction of the earth, but rather the destruction of humankind.

Example 4: The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives so that nation might live.

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

These three examples from the address of Abraham Lincoln show the use of contradictory ideas put together in one sentence. They show how he mentions living and dead putting them side by side. This antithesis has helped Lincoln as well as America to come out of the ravages of the Civil War.

Function of Antithesis

An antithesis helps make an idea distinct and prominent when it contradicts another idea in the first part of the argument . This contrastive feature helps make readers make their argument solid, cogent, and eloquent. Sentences comprising anthesis also become easy to remember, quote, and recall when required. When an antithesis occurs in a text, it creates an argumentative atmosphere where a dialectic could take place and helps writers and speakers hook their audience easily with antithetical statements.

Synonyms of Antithesis

Antithesis has no exact synonyms but several words come closer in meanings such as opposite, reverse, converse, reversal, inverse, extreme, another side of the coin, or flip side or contrast.

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Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of antithesis.

Antithesis is the use of contrasting concepts, words, or sentences within parallel grammatical structures. This combination of a balanced structure with opposite ideas serves to highlight the contrast between them. For example, the following famous Muhammad Ali quote is an example of antithesis: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” This is an antithesis example because there is the contrast between the animals and their actions (the peaceful floating butterfly versus the aggressive stinging bee) combined with the parallel grammatical structure of similes indicated by “like a.” Ali is indicating the contrasting skills necessary to be a good boxer.

Difference Between Antithesis and Juxtaposition

Antithesis is very similar to juxtaposition , as juxtaposition also sets two different things close to each other to emphasize the difference between them. However, juxtaposition does not necessarily deal with completely opposite ideas—sometimes the juxtaposition may be between two similar things so that the reader will notice the subtle differences. Juxtaposition also does not necessitate a parallel grammatical structure. The definition of antithesis requires this balanced grammatical structure.

Common Examples of Antithesis

The use of antithesis is very popular in speeches and common idioms, as the inherent contrasts often make antithesis quite memorable. Here are some examples of antithesis from famous speeches:

• “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” –John F. Kennedy Jr.
• “We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” –Barack Obama
• “Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.” –Winston Churchill
• “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” –Abraham Lincoln

Significance of Antithesis in Literature

Antithesis can be a helpful tool for the author both to show a character’s mindset and to set up an argument . If the antithesis is something that the character is thinking, the audience can better understand the full scope of that character’s thoughts. While antithesis is not the most ubiquitous of literary devices , some authors use antithesis quite extensively, such as William Shakespeare. Many of his sonnets and plays include examples of antithesis.

Examples of Antithesis in Literature

HAMLET: To be, or not to be, that is the question— Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them?

( Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

Arguably the most famous six words in all of Shakespeare’s work are an example of antithesis. Hamlet considers the important question of “to be, or not to be.” In this line, he is considering the very nature of existence itself. Though the line is quite simple in form it contrasts these very important opposite states. Hamlet sets up his soliloquy with this antithesis and continues with others, including the contrast between suffering whatever fortune has to offer or opposing his troubles. This is a good example of Shakespeare using antithesis to present to the audience or readers Hamlet’s inner life and the range of his thinking.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

( A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)

The opening paragraph of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities employs many different literary devices all at once. There are many examples of antithesis back-to-back, starting with the first contrast between “the best of times” and “the worst of times.” Each pair of contrasting opposites uses a parallel structure to emphasize their differences. Dickens uses these antithetical pairs to show what a tumultuous time it was during the setting of his book. In this case, the use of antithesis is a rhetorical device that foreshadows the conflicts that will be central to the novel.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

( Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)

In Joseph Heller’s classic anti-war novel Catch-22 , Heller uses a specific type of humor in which antithetical statements show the true absurdity of war. This very famous quote explains the concept of the “Catch-22,” which became a popular idiomatic expression because of the book. In fact, this example is not so much an antithetical statement but instead an antithetical situation. That is to say, the two possible outcomes for Orr are opposite: either he’s deemed crazy and would thus not be forced to fly any more combat missions, or he’s sane and then would indeed have to fly them. However, the one situation negates the possibility of the other, as only a sane man would be clear-headed enough to ask not to fly more missions.

This case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.

( To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird , Atticus Finch is a lawyer representing Tom Robinson. Atticus presents the above statement to the jury, setting up an antithesis. He asserts that the case is not difficult and yet requires the jury to be absolutely sure of their decision. Atticus believes the case to have a very obvious conclusion, and hopes that the jury will agree with him, but he is also aware of the societal tensions at work that will complicate the case.

Test Your Knowledge of Antithesis

1. What is the correct antithesis definition? A. Using two very similar concepts and showing their subtle differences. B. Setting up a contrast between two opposite ideas or phrases in a balanced grammatical structure. C. Using words to convey an opposite meaning to their literal sense.

2. What is the difference between antithesis and juxtaposition? A. They are exactly the same device. B. They are completely different literary devices. C. Antithesis parallels opposite concepts, while juxtaposition sets up a comparison and contrast between two concepts that can be either similar or different.

3. Which of the following quotes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth contains an example of antithesis? A. 

WITCHES: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.

MACBETH: Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?

WITCHES: Something wicked this way comes.

4. Which of the following quotes from Heller’s Catch-22 contains an example of antithesis? A. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many counties can’t all be worth dying for. B. He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive. C. You’re inches away from death every time you go on a mission. How much older can you be at your age?

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Anaphora

Introduction, textbooks and other introductory works.

• Reference Books
• Edited Collections
• Data Sources
• Non-Canonical Interpretation of Anaphors and Pronominals
• Internal Structure of Pronouns and Anaphors
• Representing Anaphoric Dependencies
• Variation in Binding Domains
• Long-Distance Anaphora
• Logophoricity
• Reciprocals
• The Anaphor-Agreement Effect
• “Reflexive” Clitics
• Issues Arising from Cross-Linguistic Variation
• Language Acquisition
• Language Processing

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Anaphora by Eric Reuland , Martin Everaert , Anna Volkova LAST REVIEWED: 18 August 2022 LAST MODIFIED: 28 October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199772810-0050

Anaphora can be generally defined as “subsequent reference to an entity already introduced in discourse” ( Safir 2004a ; see Representing Anaphoric Dependencies ). The study of anaphora spans various fields of linguistics, from formal syntax and semantics to linguistic typology and pragmatics, and from computational linguistics to language processing and language acquisition. A major divide in this field is that between intrasentential anaphora—more specifically, binding relations—and intersentential, or discourse, anaphora. The former attracted attention in the 1960s and is one of the central topics in generative syntax and semantics, but also in current typological studies. The latter has been studied extensively since the early 1990s within computational linguistics, discourse representation theory, and functional approaches such as centering theory.

As anaphoric dependencies involve a variety of factors, and prima facie show substantial cross-linguistic variation, it is often the case that textbooks offer only a partial overview of the phenomena or provide only one theoretical account of a limited set of data. King 2010 offers a concise overview of the topic. Aoun 1985 and Lasnik and Uriagereka 1988 outline the view of anaphora within the Government and Binding framework. Hornstein, et al. 2005 , a textbook on Minimalist syntax, contains an informative chapter on Binding theory. Chierchia and McConnell-Ginet 2000 offers an accessible introduction to formal semantics, a necessary background for further reading on the topic. Heim and Kratzer 1998 , a classic textbook on semantics, provides a semantic account of anaphora. Büring 2005 offers a very useful and extensive overview of anaphoric dependencies. The perspective is primarily semantic, but in a way that does justice to the main syntactic aspects as well. Kamp and Reyle 1993 explains the basics of Discourse Representation theory (DRT), a theoretical framework introduced by Hans Kamp in the early 1980s for dealing with issues in the semantics and pragmatics of anaphora and tense. Mitkov 2002 focuses on automatic anaphora resolution and provides a well-structured overview of approaches and issues in the field. Reuland 2011 , though not a textbook, presupposes relatively little knowledge and focuses on the factors governing unity versus diversity in anaphoric systems cross-linguistically.

Aoun, Joseph. 1985. A grammar of anaphora . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Very accessible, though not a textbook, this book aims at a more advanced reader and provides an excellent overview on anaphora in Government and Binding theory.

Büring, Daniel. 2005. Binding theory . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Büring provides a broad discussion of the main puzzles in the field of intersentential anaphora, along with exercises to facilitate understanding. A must-read for linguists who want an overview of the state of the art.

Chierchia, Gennaro, and Sally McConnell-Ginet. 2000. Meaning and grammar: An introduction to semantics . 2d ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

This textbook introduces formal semantics to students with little or no knowledge of logic and some of linguistics. Especially recommended are chapter 6 (“Contexts: Indexicality, Discourse, and Presupposition,” pp. 329–389) and chapter 7 (“Lambda Abstraction, pp. 392–429).

Heim, Irene, and Angelika Kratzer. 1998. Semantics in generative grammar . Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Authoritative introduction to the semantics of binding.

Hornstein, Norbert, Jairo Nunes, and Kleanthes Grohmann. 2005. Understanding minimalism . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Contains an informative chapter developing the syntactic perspective on Binding theory (chapter 8, “Binding Theory,” pp. 247–285).

Kamp, Hans, and Uwe Reyle. 1993. From discourse to logic: Introduction to modeltheoretic semantics of natural language, formal logic and Discourse Representation Theory . Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.

This book provides an accessible overview of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT). DRT is a theory of interpretation based on the idea that a representation of the discourse is built up as it unfolds, and that every incoming sentence prompts additions to that representation.

King, Jeffrey C. Anaphora . In The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy . Edited by Edward N. Zalta. 2010.

This article offers a concise overview of the main problems in the study of anaphora and current approaches to solving them.

Lasnik, Howard, and Juan Uriagereka. 1988. A course in GB syntax: Lectures on empty categories and binding . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Provides a very useful outline of the view on anaphora within the Government and Binding framework.

Mitkov, Ruslan. 2002. Anaphora resolution . New York: Longman.

This book is aptly described as a useful introduction for a novice in the field and a good reference source.

Reuland, Eric. 2011. Anaphora and language design . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Though not written as a textbook, it provides an extensive overview of the development of Binding theory over the past few decades, including a recent Minimalist approach. It presupposes relatively little knowledge and focuses on the factors governing commonalities and cross-linguistic variation in anaphoric systems.

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What is Anaphora? Definition and Examples of Anaphoric Literature

Home » The Writer’s Dictionary » What is Anaphora? Definition and Examples of Anaphoric Literature

Anaphora definition: Anaphora is a rhetorical device that is the repetition of a word or phrase in successive clauses or phrases.

What is Anaphora? Anaphora as a Literary Term

What does anaphora mean? Anaphora is a rhetorical device that is the repetition of a word or phrase in successive clauses or phrases . Anaphora is typically found in writing at the beginning of successive sentences. Anaphora is an effective tool to help convey an argument.

The three previous sentences are an example of anaphora. The sentences begin with the phrase, “Anaphora is.”

A speaker or writer will use anaphora with purpose and intent.

Weak writers uses anaphora on accident—that is not anaphora; that is poor word choice.

Modern Examples of Anaphora

Toward the end of the speech, Dr. King repeats “I have a dream” as the opening clause of eight successive statements.

Yes, this is how the speech was so named. However, Dr. King repeats these lines in order to communicate his argument. In each statement his dream builds. In each statement his dream becomes more pressing. In each statement his dream incites his audience to follow his cause.

This is how a speaker effectively utilizes anaphora.

The Function of Anaphora

As with all good writing, each word and sentence should be carefully crafted and constructed with the writer’s argument and audience in mind. Anaphora is a beneficial tool when a writer uses forethought.

Because anaphora is a rhetorical device, it is a method of persuasion. Often, anaphora is used in non-fiction writing, as in Dr. King’s speech. However, good writers—whether writing fiction or non-fiction—are always trying to convince you of something. Consequently, anaphora is evident in fiction, as well.

Examples of Anaphora in Literature

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

First , Dickens incorporates the anaphora “it was the.” He does this to establish tone and setting.

Second , Dickens utilizes the anaphora “we,” introducing his narrator and voice.

Again , the repetition is not without purpose. With much intention Dickens used anaphora in these lines to communicate his text’s argument.

Summary: What is an Anaphora?

Define anaphora: the definition of anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or phrases. Anaphora is a rhetorical device that is used to effectively enhance and communicate an argument.

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A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices

6.  Parallelism   is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.

Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:

• Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.

Or parallel verbs and adverbs:

• I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
• Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.

Or parallel verbs and direct objects:

• He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.

Or just the objects:

• This wealthy car collector owns three pastel Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten assorted Mercedes.

Or parallel prepositional phrases:

• He found it difficult to vote for an ideal truth but against his own self interest.
• The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit, singing “Up, Up, and Away.”

Notice how paralleling rather long subordinate clauses helps you to hold the whole sentence clearly in your head:

• These critics–who point out the beauties of style and ideas, who discover the faults of false constructions, and who discuss the application of the rules–usually help a lot in engendering an understanding of the writer’s essay.
• When, at the conclusion of a prolonged episode of agonizing thought, you decide to buy this car; when, after a hundred frantic sessions of begging stonefaced bankers for the money, you can obtain sufficient funds; and when, after two more years of impatience and frustration, you finally get a driver’s license, then come see me and we will talk about a deal.
• After you corner the market in Brazilian coffee futures, but before you manipulate the price through the ceiling, sit down and have a cup of coffee with me (while I can still afford it).

It is also possible to parallel participial, infinitive, and gerund phrases:

• He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
• To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
• She liked sneaking up to Ted and putting the ice cream down his back, because he was so cool about it.

In practice some combination of parts of speech or sentence elements is used to form a statement, depending as always on what you have to say. In addition, the parallelism, while it normally should be pretty close, does not have to be exact in its syntactical similarity. For example, you might write,

• He ran up to the bookshelves, grabbed a chair standing nearby, stepped painfully on his tiptoes, and pulled the fifty-pound volume on top of him, crushing his ribs and impressing him with the power of knowledge.

Here are some other examples of parallelism:

• I shall never envy the honors which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardor to virtue, and confidence to truth. –Samuel Johnson
• They had great skill in optics, and had instructed him to see faults in others, and beauties in himself, that could be discovered by nobody else. . . . –Alexander Pope
• For the end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science is performance. –Aristotle

7.  Chiasmus   might be called “reverse parallelism,” since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., “learned unwillingly”) paralleled by another A,B structure (“forgotten gladly”), the A,B will be followed by B,A (“gladly forgotten”). So instead of writing, “What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly,” you could write, “What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten.” Similarly, the parallel sentence, “What is now great was at first little,” could be written chiastically as, “What is now great was little at first.” Here are some examples:

• He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.
• Polished in courts and hardened in the field, Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled. –Joseph Addison
• For the Lord is a Great God . . . in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are his also. –Psalm 95:4

Chiasmus is easiest to write and yet can be made very beautiful and effective simply by moving subordinate clauses around:

• If you come to them, they are not asleep; if you ask and inquire of them, they do not withdraw themselves; they do not chide if you make mistakes; they do not laugh at you if you are ignorant. –Richard de Bury

Prepositional phrases or other modifiers can also be moved around to form chiastic structures. Sometimes the effect is rather emphatic:

• Tell me not of your many perfections; of your great modesty tell me not either.
• Just as the term “menial” does not apply to any honest labor, so no dishonest work can be called “prestigious.”

At other times the effect is more subdued but still desirable. Compare the versions of these sentences, written first in chiastic and then in strictly parallel form. Which do you like better in each case?

• On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then it had a flat on the way home.
• On the way to school, my car ran out of gas; then on the way home it had a flat.
• Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but they said nothing at all sitting in the dentist’s office.
• Sitting together at lunch, the kids talked incessantly; but sitting in the dentist’s office, they said nothing at all.
• The computer mainframe is now on sale; available also at a discount is the peripheral equipment.
• The computer mainframe is now on sale; the peripheral equipment is also available at a discount.

Chiasmus may be useful for those sentences in which you want balance, but which cannot be paralleled effectively, either because they are too short, or because the emphasis is placed on the wrong words. And sometimes a chiastic structure will just seem to “work” when a parallel one will not.

8.  Zeugma   includes several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. Thus examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two (or more) verbs, a verb with two (or more) direct objects, two (or more) subjects with one verb, and so forth. The main benefit of the linking is that it shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly.

In one form (prozeugma), the yoking word precedes the words yoked. So, for example, you could have a verb stated in the first clause understood in the following clauses:

• Pride opresseth humility; hatred love; cruelty compassion. –Peacham
• Fred excelled at sports; Harvey at eating; Tom with girls.
• Alexander conquered the world; I, Minneapolis.

A more important version of this form (with its own name, diazeugma) is the single subject with multiple verbs:

• . . . It operated through the medium of unconscious self-deception and terminated in inveterate avarice. –Thomas Love Peacock
• Mr.   Glowry held his memory in high honor, and made a punchbowl of his skull. –Ibid.
• This terrace . . . took in an oblique view of the open sea, and fronted a long track of level sea-coast . . . . –Ibid.
• Fluffy rolled on her back, raised her paws, and meowed to be petted.

Notice that two or three verb phrases are the usual proportion. But if you have a lot to say about the actions of the subject, or if you want to show a sort of multiplicity of behavior or doings, you can use several verbs:

• When at Nightmare Abbey, he would condole with Mr. Glowry,   drink Madeira with Scythrop, crack jokes with Mr.   Hilary, hand Mrs. Hilary to the piano, take charge of her fan and gloves, and turn over her music with surprising dexterity, quote Revelations with Mr.   Toobad, and lament the good old times of feudal darkness with the Transcendental Mr. Flosky. –Thomas Love Peacock

Two or more subordinate relative pronoun clauses can be linked prozeugmatically, with the noun becoming the yoking word:

• His father, to comfort him, read him a Commentary on Ecclesiastes, which he had himself composed, and which demonstrated incontrovertibly that all is vanity. –Thomas Love Peacock
• O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! –Richard de Bury

You could have two or more direct objects:

• With one mighty swing he knocked the ball through the window and two spectators off their chairs.
• He grabbed his hat from the rack in the closet, his gloves from the table near the door, and his car keys from the punchbowl.

Or a preposition with two objects:

• Mr. Glowry was horror-struck by the sight of a round, ruddy face, and a pair of laughing eyes. –Thomas Love Peacock

Sometimes you might want to create a linkage in which the verb must be understood in a slightly different sense:

• He grabbed his hat from the rack by the stairs and a kiss from the lips of his wife.
• He smashed the clock into bits and his fist through the wall.

In hypozeugma the yoking word follows the words it yokes together. A common form is multiple subjects:

• Hours, days, weeks, months, and years do pass away. –Sherry
• The moat at its base, and the fens beyond comprised the whole of his prospect. –Peacock
• To generate that much electricity and to achieve that kind of durability would require a completely new generator design.

It is possible also to hold off a verb until the last clause:

• The little baby from his crib, the screaming lady off the roof, and the man from the flooded basement were all rescued.

Hypozeugma can be used with adjectives or adjective phrases, too. Here, Peacock uses two participial phrases, one past and one present:

• Disappointed both in love and in friendship, and looking upon human learning as vanity, he had come to a conclusion that there was but one good thing in the world, videlicet, a good dinner . . . .

The utility of the zeugmatic devices lies partly in their economy (for they save repetition of subjects or verbs or other words), and partly in the connections they create between thoughts. The more connections between ideas you can make in an essay, whether those connections are simple transitional devices or more elaborate rhetorical ones, the fewer your reader will have to guess at, and therefore the clearer your points will be.

9.  Antithesis   establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are inveterate systematizers and categorizers, so the mind has a natural love for antithesis, which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:

• To err is human; to forgive, divine. –Pope
• That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold’s outlook.
• That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. –Neil Armstrong

Antithesis can convey some sense of complexity in a person or idea by admitting opposite or nearly opposite truths:

• Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.
• If we try, we might succeed; if we do not try, we cannot succeed.
• Success makes men proud; failure makes them wise.

Antithesis, because of its close juxtaposition and intentional

contrast of two terms or ideas, is also very useful for making relatively fine distinctions or for clarifying differences which might be otherwise overlooked by a careless thinker or casual reader:

• In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. –Samuel Johnson
• The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. –Matt. 23:2-3 (RSV)
• I agree that it is legal; but my question was, Is it moral?
• The advertisement indeed says that these shoes are the best, but it means that they are equal; for in advertising “best” is a parity claim and only “better” indicates superiority.

Note also that short phrases can be made antithetical:

• Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind, at once, the difficulty of excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of labor, and that labor, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward. –Samuel Johnson

10.    Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism:

• To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To think on the world verily it is,/ To think that here man hath no perfect bliss. –Peacham
• 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
• Finally, we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is in books, how easy, how secret! How safely we lay bare the poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame! –Ibid.
• The wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive: instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas; instead of seeking praise, by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator, he must strive for fame by captivating the imagination. –Sir Joshua Reynolds
• Slowly and grimly they advanced, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing what they would find at the top of the hill, not knowing that they were so near to Disneyland.
• They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account. –Samuel Johnson

Anaphora can be used with questions, negations, hypotheses, conclusions, and subordinating conjunctions, although care must be taken not to become affected or to sound rhetorical and bombastic. Consider these selections:

• Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to what he has learned?
• Not time, not money, not laws, but willing diligence will get this done.
• If we can get the lantern lit, if we can find the main cave, and if we can see the stalagmites, I’ll show you the one with the bat skeleton in it. be used for

Adverbs and prepositions can anaphora, too:

• They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money. –Richard de Bury
• She stroked her kitty cat very softly, very slowly, very smoothly.

11.  Epistrophe   (also called antistrophe) forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences:

• Where affections bear rule, there reason is subdued, honesty is subdued, good will is subdued, and all things else that withstand evil, for ever are subdued. –Wilson
• And all the night he did nothing but weep Philoclea, sigh Philoclea, and cry out Philoclea. –Philip Sidney
• You will find washing beakers helpful in passing this course, using the gas chromatograph desirable for passing this course, and studying hours on end essential to passing this course.

Epistrophe is an extremely emphatic device because of the emphasis placed on the last word in a phrase or sentence. If you have a concept you wish to stress heavily, then epistrophe might be a good construction to use. The danger as usual lies in this device’s tendency to become too rhetorical. Consider whether these are successful and effective or hollow and bombastic:

• The cars do not sell because the engineering is inferior, the quality of materials is inferior, and the workmanship is inferior.
• The energies of mankind are often exerted in pursuit, consolidation, and enjoyment; which is to say, many men spend their lives pursuing power, consolidating power, and enjoying power.

12.  Anadiplosis   repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next. it can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression:

• Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain . . . . –Philip Sidney

Most commonly, though, anadiplosis is used for emphasis of the repeated word or idea, since repetition has a reinforcing effect:

• They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. –Jer. 2:13
• The question next arises, How much confidence can we put in the people, when the people have elected Joe Doax?
• This treatment plant has a record of uncommon reliability, a reliability envied by every other water treatment facility on the coast.
• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. –John 1:1

Notice how the main point of the sentence becomes immediately clear by repeating the same word twice in close succession. There can be no doubt about the focus of your thought when you use anadiplosis.

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What Is Antithesis, and How Do You Use It in Writing?

Antithesis is a  literary device that positions opposite ideas parallel to each other. Think heroes and villains, hot and cold, bitter and sweet. Antithesis enhances your  writing by illuminating differences and making your point more persuasive.

What is antithesis?

Antithesis (pronounced an-TITH-uh-sis) deals in opposites. The Merriam-Webster definition of antithesis is “the direct opposite,” and in Greek the meaning is “setting opposite.” As a tool for writing, antithesis creates a juxtaposition of qualities using a parallel grammatical structure. In other words, it’s setting opposites next to each other using the same terms or structure. This creates a stark contrast that highlights dramatic qualities and creates a rhythm that’s interesting to the reader. 

What is the function of antithesis?

The repetition of structure in antithesis makes writing more memorable, and its juxtapositions make writing more convincing. 

Take, for example, the opening lines of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities : “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . ” You’re probably familiar with this line even if the name Dr. Manette means nothing to you. Dickens took two contrasting qualities (best/worst) and linked them by using a parallel structure (it was . . . of times / it was . . . of times). The contrast is clear, and the sentiment is intriguing. The reader is hooked.

In rhetoric , antithesis calls attention to the differences between two options. For example, in a speech in Saint Louis in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” King is obviously in favor of the former option: living together as brothers. He uses antithesis, placing opposite actions (live/perish) in a parallel structure (. . . together as brothers / . . . together as fools) to make his claim even more convincing.

How to use antithesis in writing

Contrast and parallel structure are the two most important elements for you to think about as you begin using antithesis in your own writing.

Contrast: The main tool of antithesis is its contrast of ideas. Ideally, the two concepts are direct opposites. However, sometimes you can get away with contrasting differences or implied opposites, which are forms of juxtaposition. (We’ll talk about the difference between antithesis and juxtaposition later.) The greater the difference between the two things, the clearer their contrast. Antithesis is more powerful than juxtaposition as it deals in stronger contrasts. 

Parallel structure: Parallel structure in writing, also known as  parallelism , creates a rhythm that draws attention to your contrast. Think about the famous Dickens line we talked about before: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” Notice how memorable that rhythm is. If we remove the parallel structure, you end up with something like: “It was the best of times, but not always. It was also the worst of times.” Same sentiment, not nearly as beautiful.

Be careful not to overuse antithesis though. Its effectiveness depends on grabbing your reader’s attention. Used too often, it can change from noteworthy to annoying.

Antithesis vs. juxtaposition

Antithesis, parallelism, and juxtaposition are closely related literary devices that overlap with each other. Just as antithesis reveals two contrary ideas’ qualities by contrasting them, learning the differences between these devices will help you understand each individually.

Juxtaposition means placing two objects side by side to highlight their differences. It is a broader category than antithesis. Antithesis is a type of juxtaposition. Antithesis means placing direct opposites side by side, while juxtaposition uses any sort of difference. Other forms of juxtaposition are foils (differences between specific characters) and  oxymorons (seemingly illogical expressions that use contradictory words).

Antithesis vs. parallelism

This may sound familiar because we just wrote about how antithesis uses parallelism to make its point. Parallelism has to do with  syntax , or the structure of the sentence. Put simply, it’s two or more clauses that have the same grammatical structure. For example, the expression “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” uses the same grammatical structure twice in a row. The difference between antithesis and parallelism is that parallelism does not have to deal in opposites, while antithesis does. Furthermore, antithesis refers to both the content and the structure of a statement, whereas parallelism is just a structure.

Antithesis examples

Once you know what to look for, you’ll see antithesis examples everywhere. Below are some selections that we found in literature, poetry, speeches, music, and advertising.

Antithesis in literature

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness . . .” —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“. . . me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.” —Toni Morrison, Beloved

Antithesis in poetry

“Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice” —Robert Frost, “Fire and Ice”

Antithesis in speech

“We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.” —John F. Kennedy, presidential inaugural speech

Antithesis in music

“’Cause you’re hot then you’re cold / you’re yes then you’re no / you’re in then you’re out / you’re up then you’re down” —Katy Perry, “Hot N Cold”

Antithesis in advertising

“Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” —Sara Lee slogan

Antithesis phrases

Easy come, easy go. Get busy living or get busy dying. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” —Muhammad Ali, 1964

Antithesis FAQs

Antithesis is a literary device that places opposite words, ideas, or qualities parallel to each other. The contrast between them creates greater emphasis and clarity. Their parallel structure provides a memorable rhythm.

When is antithesis used?

The effect of antithesis is useful in all kinds of writing and speech, including literature, advertising, rhetoric, and music. It’s best used to make an emphatic point in a catchy way. 

How is antithesis used in writing?

In writing, antithesis combines juxtaposition and parallelism. The pattern created by antithesis allows writers to highlight differences, emphasize qualities, and generate rhythm.

Anaphora and Epistrophe: Two Rhetorical Devices

by Sue Weems and Liz Bureman | 2 comments

Anaphora and epistrophe are rhetorical devices that have a few things in common. You've probably heard both types used without even knowing it! Let's take a look.

Quick Definitions: Anaphora and Epistrophe

Anaphora is a rhetorical device that involves repeating the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses. 

Epistrophe, on the other hand, repeats the same word or phrase at the end of successive sentences or clauses.

What Is Anaphora? How is it used?

Let's look a little deeper. Anaphora is when the first word or series of words in a phrase, sentence, or clause repeats for emphasis.

Examples of anaphora as a word:

Go big or go home (the repetition of “go” creates a punchy aphorism meaning to give your all or don't try at all)

Examples of anaphora as a phrase:

In Chris Stapleton's song “Devil Always Made Me Think Twice,” he opens with a repeated phrase.

Take a little smoke in the evening Take a little whiskey on ice

Examples of anaphora as a clause:

One famous example of anaphora comes from the opening lines of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

Martin Luther King Jr. also used anaphora in his “I Have a Dream” speech, with the repetition of that famous phrase.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. 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!

Songs often use this structure as well, as in Taylor Swift's song, “Should've Said No”:

You should've said no You should've gone home You should've thought twice before you let it all go

Once you start looking for it, you'll notice anaphora everywhere from songs to ads and iconic speeches. Now you'll know the term anaphora and be able to identify it. Go on, amaze your family and friends! 

Why use anaphora?

The repetition can be used for a number of reasons. The rhythm of repetition creates a structure for the ideas expressed. It can also be used to emphasize or build an idea in succession, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech where his ideas build into a larger vision of full equality. 

Anaphora can also be used to compare or contrast ideas. A good example of this is in Taylor Swift's song:

You should've known that word ‘bout what you did with her/ Would get back to me (get back to me) And I should've been there/ In the back of your mind I shouldn't be asking myself why You shouldn't be beggin' for forgiveness at my feet You should've said no Baby, and you might still have me

Notice how the lines and repetition contrast what is and what should have been, in addition to the difference between their individual actions and reflection on what happened in their relationship. 

What is epistrophe? How is it used?

But what if the repetition happens at the end of successive phrases, sentences, or clauses? Is there a term for that? Yes! There are actually three terms:

Epistrophe, or epiphora, or antistrophe.

Take your pick; they're all correct.

Examples of epistrophe appear in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

…and that government of the people , by the people , for the people , shall not perish from the earth.

You can also see them in Lyndon B. Johnson's “We Shall Overcome” speech.

There is no Negro problem . There is no Southern problem . There is no Northern problem . There is only an American problem.

Why use epistrophe? 

Writers use epistrophe for the same reasons they use anaphora. The rhythm is pleasing to the ear, it drives home specific ideas with emphasis, and it's memorable. 

Depending on the example, epistrophe can also create emotional impact, such as the example here in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath , where Tom Joad tries to reassure Ma Joad that he's a man in his own right and will continue to work for justice whether in life or in death. 

I'll be ever'where – wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there . If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there.

And (fun fact) what happens when anaphora and epistrophe combine? You get symploce, which is when phrases/sentences/clauses have words at both the beginning and end repeating themselves.

Isn't that neat? Now go looking for examples of epistrophy on your own!

Repetition: A winning device

Repetition is a stylistic device used most often in poems, songs, and speeches, but as we've seen, anaphora and epistrophe can be used effectively in almost any type of writing. Watch and listen for the examples in your everyday life and try out a few in your own writing. 

For today's practice, open your manuscript or start a new scene or speech. Think about an issue that you're passionate about. How can you distill your message to a quick phrase that can be repeated in some way? Set your timer for 15 minutes and write out your scene or speech using anaphora or epistrophe. 

When finished, s hare your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop , and leave feedback for a few other writers. Not a member? Join us .

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

Liz Bureman

Liz Bureman has a more-than-healthy interest in proper grammatical structure, accurate spelling, and the underappreciated semicolon. When she's not diagramming sentences and reading blogs about how terribly written the Twilight series is, she edits for the Write Practice, causes trouble in Denver, and plays guitar very slowly and poorly. You can follow her on Twitter (@epbure), where she tweets more about music of the mid-90s than writing.

Glad to visit your blog. Thanks for this great post that you share to us.

Wow, Liz, the Northern Lights! Something I have always wanted to see. I had a stunning dream about them once… but have not yet seen them for real. Are they as stunning as photos suggest? Are they as breathtaking as we imagine? Are they as ephemeral as first snow?

(a little sprinkle of anaphora there…. 🙂 )

Love this post. It’s wonderful to be reminded of the technical terms of this art that we practice. I use anaphora all the time in my writing, much more so than epistrophe. One of my readers suggested once that it slows down the tempo, and I wrote back to her saying, Yes, exactly! when you want your readers to slow down, and really take in what you’re saying, that’s the perfect time for anaphora.

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• How to Use Antithesis

I. What is an Antithesis?

“Antithesis” literally means “opposite” – it is usually the opposite of a statement, concept, or idea. In literary analysis, an antithesis is a pair of statements or images in which the one reverses the other. The pair is written with similar grammatical structures to show more contrast. Antithesis (pronounced an-TITH-eh-sis) is used to emphasize a concept, idea, or conclusion.

II. Examples of Antithesis

That’s one small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind .  (Neil Armstrong, 1969)

In this example, Armstrong is referring to man walking on the moon. Although taking a step is an ordinary activity for most people, taking a step on the moon, in outer space, is a major achievement for all humanity.

To err is human ; to forgive , divine . (Alexander Pope)

This example is used to point out that humans possess both worldly and godly qualities; they can all make mistakes, but they also have the power to free others from blame.

The world will little note , nor long remember , what we say here, but it can never forget what they did  (Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address )

In his speech, Lincoln points out that the details of that moment may not be memorable, but the actions would make history, and therefore, never entirely forgotten.

Antithesis can be a little tricky to see at first. To start, notice how each of these examples is separated into two parts . The parts are separated either by a dash, a semicolon, or the word “but.” Antithesis always has this multi-part structure (usually there are two parts, but sometimes it can be more, as we’ll see in later examples). The parts are not always as obvious as they are in these examples, but they will always be there.

Next, notice how the second part of each example contains terms that reverse or invert terms in the first part: small step vs. giant leap; human vs. divine; we say vs. they do. In each of the examples, there are several pairs of contrasted terms between the first part and the second, which is quite common in antithesis.

Finally, notice that each of the examples contains some parallel structures and ideas in addition to the opposites. This is key! The two parts are not simply contradictory statements. They are a matched pair that have many grammatical structures or concepts in common; in the details, however, they are opposites.

For example, look at the parallel grammar of Example 1: the word “one,” followed by an adjective, a noun, and then the word “for.” This accentuates the opposites by setting them against a backdrop of sameness – in other words, two very different ideas are being expressed with very, very similar grammatical structures.

To recap: antithesis has three things:

• Two or more parts
• Reversed or inverted ideas
• (usually) parallel grammatical structure

III. The Importance of Verisimilitude

Antithesis is basically a complex form of juxtaposition . So its effects are fairly similar – by contrasting one thing against its opposite, a writer or speaker can emphasize the key attributes of whatever they’re talking about. In the Neil Armstrong quote, for example, the tremendous significance of the first step on the moon is made more vivid by contrasting it with the smallness and ordinariness of the motion that brought it about.

Antithesis can also be used to express curious contradictions or paradoxes. Again, the Neil Armstrong quote is a good example: Armstrong is inviting his listeners to puzzle over the fact that a tiny, ordinary step – not so different from the millions of steps we take each day – can represent so massive a technological accomplishment as the moon landing.

Paradoxically, an antithesis can also be used to show how two seeming opposites might in fact be similar.

IV. Examples of Verisimilitude in Literature

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Forgive us this day our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us . (The Lord’s Prayer)

The antithesis is doing a lot of work here. First, it shows the parallel between committing an evil act and being the victim of one. On the surface, these are opposites, and this is part of the antithesis, but at the same time they are, in the end, the same act from different perspectives. This part of the antithesis is basically just an expression of the Golden Rule.

Second, the antithesis displays a parallel between the speaker (a human) and the one being spoken to (God). The prayer is a request for divine mercy, and at the same time a reminder that human beings should also be merciful.

All the joy the world contains has come through wanting happiness for others . All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for yourself . (Shantideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva )

The antithesis here comes with some pretty intense parallel structure. Most of the words in each sentence are exactly the same as those in the other sentence. (“All the ___ the world contains has come through wanting ____ for ____.”) This close parallel structure makes the antithesis all the more striking, since the words that differ become much more visible.

Another interesting feature of this antithesis is that it makes “pleasure” and “happiness” seem like opposites, when most of us might think of them as more or less synonymous. The quote makes happiness seem noble and exalted, whereas pleasure is portrayed as selfish and worthless.

The proper function of man is to live , not to exist . I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong  (Jack London, Credo )

The opening antithesis here gets its punch from the fact that we think of living and existing as pretty similar terms. But for London, they are opposites. Living is about having vivid experiences, learning, and being bold; simply existing is a dull, pointless thing. These two apparently similar words are used in this antithesis to emphasize the importance of living as opposed to mere existing.

The second antithesis, on the other hand, is just the opposite – in this case, London is taking two words that seem somewhat opposed (waste and prolong), and telling us that they are in fact the same . Prolonging something is making it last; wasting something is letting it run out too soon. But, says London, when it comes to life, they are the same. If you try too hard to prolong your days (that is, if you’re so worried about dying that you never face your fears and live your life), then you will end up wasting them because you will never do anything worthwhile.

V. Examples of Verisimilitude in Pop Culture

Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee. (Sara Lee pastry advertisement)

This classic ad uses antithesis to set up a deliberate grammatical error. This is a common technique in advertising, since people are more likely to remember a slogan that is grammatically incorrect. (Even if they only remember it because they found it irritating, it still sticks in their brain, which is all that an ad needs to do.) The antithesis helps make the meaning clear, and throws the grammatical error into sharper relief.

What men must know , a boy must learn . (The Lookouts)

Here’s another example of how parallel structure can turn into antithesis fairly easily. (The structure is noun-“must”-verb. ) The antithesis also expresses the basic narrative of The Lookouts , which is all about kids learning to fend for themselves and become full-fledged adults.

Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (the band “AFI” – album title)

The antithesis here is a juxtaposition of two different actions (opening and shutting) that are actually part of the same sort of behavior – the behavior of somebody who wants to understand the world rather than be the center of attention. It’s basically a restatement of the old adage that “those who speak the most often have the least to say.”

VI. Related Terms

• Juxtaposition

Antithesis is basically a form of juxtaposition . Juxtaposition, though, is a much broader device that encompasses any deliberate use of contrast or contradiction by an author. So, in addition to antithesis, it might include:

• The scene in “The Godfather” where a series of brutal murders is intercut with shots of a baptism, juxtaposing birth and death.
• “A Song of Ice and Fire” (George R. R. Martin book series)
• Heaven and Hell
• Mountains and the sea
• Dead or alive
• “In sickness and in health”

Antithesis performs a very similar function, but does so in a more complicated way by using full sentences (rather than single words or images) to express the two halves of the juxtaposition.

Here is an antithesis built around some of the common expressions from above

• “ Sheep go to Heaven ; goats go to Hell .”
• “Beethoven’s music is as mighty as the mountains and as timeless as the sea .”
• “In sickness he loved me; in health he abandoned ”

Notice how the antithesis builds an entire statement around the much simpler juxtaposition. And, crucially, notice that each of those statements exhibits parallel grammatical structure . In this way, both Juxtaposition and parallel structures can be used to transform a simple comparison, into antithesis.

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Notes to Anaphora

1. For example, the beginning of the entry for “anaphora” in the Supplement to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy (London: Macmillan, 1996) reads

The study of anaphora (from Greek, “carry back”) is the study of the ways in which occurrences of certain expressions, particularly pronouns, depend for their interpretations upon the interpretations of occurrences of other expressions.

And in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (Peter Matthews, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), the entry for “anaphora” begins “The relation between a pronoun and another element, in the same or in an earlier sentence, that supplies its referent”.

2. Some people also treat presupposition as a kind of anaphora, giving a uniform treatment to both phenomena. See the SEP entry on presupposition .

3. One difference though is that the quantifiers of standard first order logic are unrestricted, whereas natural language quantifiers like “every man” are restricted (here by the nominal “man”). Still, it is easy enough to introduce a first order language with restricted quantifiers that bind variables. The pronouns in sentences like (2) and (12) function just like the bound variables of such a language.

4. Sometimes philosophers and linguists consider conjunctions of sentences like those in (7) and (8) rather than considering the two sentence discourses. For example, Evans (1977) considers conjunctions such as “Few MPs came to the party but they had a marvelous time”. The reasons for thinking the pronouns in the second conjuncts of such conjunctions are not bound variables or referring expressions are the same as the reasons for thinking this about the pronouns in the second sentences of (7) and (8) . Hence we shall talk only of discourses like (7) and (8). Also, henceforth we shall take the intended anaphoric relations in the examples to be obvious (as they are); and unless otherwise indicated we are only considering the readings of the examples on which the intended anaphoric relations obtain.

5. Evans argued that a bound variable treatment also gets the truth conditions wrong for cases such as “John owns some sheep and Harry vaccinates them” (as well as for the two sentence discourse corresponding to this conjunction). Wilson (1984) argues, correctly in our view, that Evans is mistaken about this. But that the account of pronouns with quantifier antecedents in other sentences (or conjunctions) as bound variables gets the truth conditions wrong for some cases (e.g., (8) ) is enough to reject it.

6. Of course, one could argue that different quantifiers have different capacities for how far their scopes extend, and that this explains the discrepancy between (7) and (8) , and (9) and (10) . So far as we know, no one has defended this view, and we think they are right not to.

7. We believe that considerations of this general sort were first raised in Davies 1981: 172–173. They are also discussed in Wilson 1984 and Soames 1989.

8. These patterns, along with many others, are, to our knowledge, first observed by Lauri Karttunen (1976).

9. So far as we know, such sentences were introduced into the contemporary literature in Geach 1962. The term “donkey anaphora” arose from the fact that Geach used the indefinite “a donkey” in his examples, as we do above.

10. The name is due to Kamp. Heim (1982) calls one formulation of her view file change semantics and that term is sometimes used in the literature for Heim’s version of DRT.

11. The various hedges above (scare quotes around “logical form”), here (“in effect can be represented as”) and below are due to the fact that Heim and Kamp implement the feature of DRT being described in different ways. For example, in the present case Heim (on one formulation) assigns logical forms to sentences and in these logical forms indefinites always have novel indices. Pronouns anaphoric on an indefinite share its index. Indices on indefinites and indexed pronouns function as variables. By contrast, Kamp constructs discourse representation structures for discourses, and truth is defined over these. An indefinite introduces a new discourse referent into the discourse representation structure for the discourse it is in. And a pronoun anaphoric on the indefinite gets linked with the discourse referent the indefinite introduced. But Heim’s and Kamp’s methods are both ways of insuring that the truth of a discourse like (27) requires that some one thing satisfy both the predicative material in the indefinite and the sentence containing it, and the predicative material the anaphoric pronoun is combined with.

12. Actually, the claim that the truth of (26) requires every donkey owning woman to beat every donkey she owns is somewhat controversial. This is discussed in section 4 below . The literature, to our knowledge, doesn‘t discuss the same controversy about the truth conditions of conditional donkey anaphora like (25) , but to us it seems the same phenomena is present.

13. We assume that “every \(x,y (\Phi(x,y)) (\Psi(x,y))\)”, where “\(\Phi(x,y)\)” and “\(\Psi(x,y)\)” are (possibly) complex predicates that may contain free occurrences of “ x ” and “ y ”, is true just in case every assignment to “ x ” and “ y ” that makes “\(\Phi(x,y)\)” true also makes “\(\Psi(x,y)\)” true.

14. The notion of unselective binding (for adverbs of quantification) was first proposed by David Lewis (1975).

15. For example, Montague (more or less) assigned each syntactic constituent a model theoretic interpretation and the interpretation of a syntactically complex expression was a function of the interpretations of its parts. DRT, by contrast, doesn’t even assign interpretations to parts of sentences.

16. Groenendijk and Stokhof write the clause as follows: \[[[\exists x\Phi ]]= \{\langle g,h\rangle \hspace{3pt} | \hspace{3pt} \exists k: k[x]g \mathbin{\&} \langle k,h\rangle \in [[\Phi]]\},\] (where \(k[x]g\) is a sequence that differs from g at most on x ).

17. As Groenendijk and Stokhof write it: \[[[\Phi \mathbin{\&} \Psi]]= \{\langle g,h\rangle \hspace{3pt}|\hspace{3pt} \exists k: \langle g,k\rangle \in [[\Phi]] \mathbin{\&} \langle k,h\rangle \in [[\Psi]]\}\]

18. That we only look at pairs \(\langle h,h\rangle\) means that conditionals are “externally static”, and so cannot affect the interpretation of expressions outside of them, unlike conjunctions. This explains the following contrast: “A man came in and he was happy. He was rich.”; #“If a man came in, he was happy. He was rich.”

19. But not outside: it is externally static, which explains the infelicity of the following: #“Every woman who ones a donkey beats it. It is in pain.”

20. See, for example, Chierchia (1995) and Kanazawa (1994a,b). See also Groenendijk and Stokhof (1990), Muskens (1991), and Beaver (2001) for dynamic semantics in a Montagovian framework. For dynamic semantics of anaphora using the computer science concept of a continuation, see Barker and Shan (2008), Barker and Shan (2014), and Charlow (2014).

21. Chierchia (1995) favors a dynamic approach, but allows that anaphoric pronouns can function as definite descriptions as well (see pps. 110–122, and section 3.3 below ). He also suggests that Geach Discourses (see above) can be handled assuming the anaphoric pronouns in them are functioning as definite descriptions. So perhaps he would invoke this mechanism to get the reading discussed above for the second sentence of (18) . But this is to invoke another mechanism in addition to the one invoked by dynamic approaches to explain the anaphora in (18) on the reading in question. And that is the point we are making in the text.

22. In addition to dynamic semantic theories, some recent work uses features of dynamic semantic theories, such as treating anaphoric pronouns as variables, keeping track of discourse referents, and having indefinite antecedents introduce discourse referents or variables without incorporating the dynamics (i.e., context change) into the semantics. See for example Cresswell (2002), Breheny (2004), Roberts (2003, 2004), Dekker (2004, 2012), and Lewis (2012, 2021, forthcoming).

23. In particular, Davies (1981) holds that pronouns anaphoric on singular indefinite noun phrases (“Mary owns a dog. It…”) “go proxy” for definite descriptions (1981: 166–176). He holds a broadly Russellian theory of definite descriptions, and views them as quantificational (1981: 151–152). He suggests that in relative clause donkey sentences, anaphoric pronouns “go proxy” for number neutral descriptions (which Neale calls numberless ), and so explains why “Every man who owns a donkey beats it.” (allegedly) requires every man who owns donkeys to beat all the donkeys he owns in the same way Neale does (see 1990: 175). And finally, the options Davies considers regarding how to understand the notion that anaphoric pronouns “go proxy for” or “are interpreted as” definite descriptions (1981: 174) appear to be precisely those considered by Neale (1990: 184).

24. Actually, Neale mentions another factor as well. Concerning the sentence “Every man who has a daughter thinks she is the most beautiful girl in the world” Neale writes:

…it is arguable that a singular [Russellian] interpretation of the pronoun is preferred. A reasonable explanation is that immediate linguistic context, and lexical and background knowledge, conspire to defeat the numberless interpretation. (In the normal run of things, there cannot be two most beautiful girls in the world.). (1990: 238)

We suppress this factor affecting which reading an anaphoric pronoun has. For in the examples we consider in which an anaphoric pronoun lacks a numberless reading there are no factors such as the impossibility of there being two most beautiful girls in the world that would “defeat” the numberless reading.

25. Note that nothing like the impossibility of there being two most beautiful girls in the world is present in this case to defeat the numberless reading. Sarah could beat more than one donkey and the Camaro driver could use more than one eight track player. See previous note.

26. Yoon (1994,1996) and Krifka (1996b) propose similar theories to Neale’s in that they treat donkey pronouns as number-neutral definites. Donkey pronouns on these theories are just plural definite ‘the Fs’ except that they do not presuppose that there is more than one F. Unlike Neale, Yoon and Krifka treat donkey pronouns as referring to mereological sums, and exploit the fact that there are maximal and non-maximal readings of plural definites to yield the strong and weak readings of donkey sentences. However, Kanazawa (2001) argues that singular donkey pronouns cannot refer to mereological sums because they behave differently from plural definites (for example, they are incompatible with collective predication).

27. A little more simplified, the basic logical form of the conditional donkey sentence is [[always [if a man owns a donkey]] [he man] beats [it donkey]]

28. Of course, DRT, dynamic semantics, CDQ, and these D-types approaches give different accounts of what these factors are and how they interact.

29. See also Schwarz (2009, 2013) for a defense of an ambiguity theory of definite descriptions along anaphoric/non-anaphoric lines.

30. The CDQ account of discourse anaphora was originally motivated by a felt analogy between the semantics of discourse anaphora and the semantics of “instantial terms” that figure in quantificational reasoning in natural languages and in derivations of systems of natural deduction for first order predicate logic. An example of an instantial term in natural language would be occurrences of “ n ” when one supposes that n is an arbitrary prime number and on the basis of subsequently establishing the claim that n is F , one concludes that all prime numbers are F . Or given that some prime number is F , one might let n be “a prime that is F ” and go on to establish certain other claims “about” n . In systems of natural deduction, instantial terms are the singular terms that are introduced in applications of existential instantiation and eliminated in applications of universal generalization. CDQ has been applied to the instantial terms of a certain range of systems of natural deduction (see King 1991). In these applications, occurrences of formulas containing instantial terms in derivations are assigned truth conditions. The truth conditions assigned depend on the structure of the derivation containing the occurrence of the formula. Thus given an occurrence of a formula A in derivation D , one defines the truth conditions of A in context c , where c encodes the structural features of derivation D that are relevant to the truth conditions of the occurrence of A in D . The idea underlying the application of CDQ to instantial terms is that such terms are quantifier-like expressions of generality, where the precise nature of that generality (e.g., universal or existential force, etc.) is determined by features of the natural language argument or derivation of a system of natural deduction in which the instantial term occurs.

31. The idea that definites involve some sort of familiarity is common in the literature. See for example Heim (1982).

32. Kanazawa (1994b) discusses how the monotonicity properties of the determiner on the wide scope quantifier in a relative clause donkey sentence (“Every”, “Most” and “No” in (55) / (56) a–c respectively) affect whether a universal or existential reading for the sentence is favored. Though Kanazawa admits that other factors also contribute to making one or the other reading favored in particular cases (see 1994b: 124), he claims that certain monotonicity properties of the determiners on the wide scope quantifier result in only one reading being possible. Thus he claims that when the wide scope quantifier has a determiner that is upward monotone on both arguments (e.g., “some”), only the weak reading is possible (1994b: 120, 124). We agree with this. However, Kanazawa also claims that when the wide scope quantifier has a determiner that is monotone down on both arguments (e.g., “no”) only the weak reading is possible (1994b: 120, 124). Though such sentences favor weak readings, sentences like (56c) cast doubt on the claim that they only allow weak readings. In any case, the important point is that though Kanazawa is concerned with how monotonicity properties of the determiners on the wide scope quantifiers in relative clause donkey sentences affect which readings are favored or available, he agrees that in the general case factors other than such monotonicity properties affect which readings are favored. See also Geurts (2002) for interesting data on factors affecting which readings are favored for donkey sentences.

33. The following are some classic examples from the literature that give different contexts to bring out the strong and weak readings of the same sentence. Some people still find it difficult to hear the weak readings of these cases, even with the context given. Chierchia (1995) gives a context for a weak reading of sentences like (26:)

(Chierchia’s context is for the sentence “Every farmer who owns a donkey beats it.”)

The farmers of Ithaca, N.Y., are stressed out. They fight constantly with each other. Eventually, they decide to go to the local psychotherapist. Her recommendation is that every farmer who has a donkey should beat it, and channel his/her aggressiveness in a way which, while still morally questionable, is arguably less dangerous from a social point of view. The farmers of Ithaca follow this recommendation and things indeed improve. (p.64)

Gawron, Nerbonne & Peters (1991: 15) argue that one can get a weak orstrong reading of:

Anyone who catches a Medfly should bring it to me.

To get the weak reading, imagine a context in which thespeaker is a biologist looking for samples on a field trip. For thestrong reading, imagine a context in which the speaker is a healthdepartmental official who is trying to eradicate the Medfly.

34. For example, Kanazawa (1994b) captures the strong and weak readingsby defining a strong and a weak dynamic generalized quantifier foreach determiner (see 1994b: 138). This appears to amount to claimingthat determiners are ambiguous. However, Kanazawa appears to takehimself to be simply “modeling” the readings of donkey sentences and not actually proposing a semantics. Thus, in introducing his dynamic predicate logic with generalized quantifiers, he consistently talks of using the framework to “model” or “represent readings of” donkey sentences (see 1994b: 132, 137, 138, 139); and after discussing the framework, he writes:

So far, we have not proposed any concrete model of the mechanism that assigns interpretations to donkey sentences. Although it would not be difficult to extract a compositional semantics from my treatment of donkey sentences in dynamic predicate logic with generalized quantifiers, our interest in this paper is not in finding the right set of compositional semantic rules that give donkey sentences the interpretation that they actually have (in the default case). (1994b: 150)

But the point is that if one were to turn Kanazawa’s approach into a semantics, it seems that it would posit an ambiguity in determiners. Kanazawa himself seems to recognize this when, in discussing Chierchia’s approach and contrasting it with his own, he writes “So he [Chierchia] shifts the locus of ambiguity from the determiner to the pronoun” (1994b: 155). On the other hand, as Kanazawa’s remarks just suggested, Chierchia (1995) attempts to capture the universal and existential readings by positing an ambiguity in the pronouns in donkey sentences. As mentioned in section 3.3 , Chierchia holds that such pronouns are interpreted either as dynamically bound variables or d-type (descriptive) pronouns (see 1995: 110–122). Chierchia denies that the (alleged) fact that donkey pronouns can be interpreted in these two ways amounts to postulating an ambiguity in these pronouns (see 1995: 117). However, we don’t find what he says on this matter persuasive.

35. As does the question of whether conditional donkey sentences seem to manifest both strong and weak readings.

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Home » Shakespeare's Works » Elements » Figures of Speech » Figures of Speech by Name » Antithesis

Figures of Speech by Name: --> Antithesis

Antithesis (an-tith'-e-sis) is the juxtaposition of contrasting or opposite ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. “The evil that men do lives after them,  /  The good is oft interred with their bones;” Julius Caesar, 3.2.82 . Similar to alliosis , which presents contrasting ideas as alternatives or choices.

Comparison , Parallelism

Notes on antithesis, the architecture of sonnet and song.

Let’s begin by stipulating that Ira Gershwin is not William Shakespeare. However, despite the gulf that separates their talents, they share some writing techniques that are useful tools for aspiring writers. For example, Shakespeare’s sonnet, That Time of Year , and Gershwin’s song, They Can’t Take That Away from Me* , are variations on a common template, … continue reading this note

Seduction or Harassment?

Shakespeare delights in the seduction ceremonies of bright men with even brighter women. These dialogues, whether between adolescents like Romeo and Juliet, more mature characters like Henry V and Princess Katherine, or seasoned adults like the widow Lady Grey and the sexual harasser King Edward, in this scene ( 3HenryVI 3.2.36 ), give Shakespeare opportunities to employ dazzling webworks of rhetorical exchanges. … continue reading this note

Sexual Extortion

In Measure for Measure (2.4.95) , Angelo, the classic sexual harasser, adopts a method of sexual extortion similar to King Edward’s in Henry VI Part 3 (3.2.36) .  Both men begin with oblique insinuations about their desires, which can be innocently misread. When the women, Isabella in  Measure for Measure and Lady Grey in Henry VI, … continue reading this note

Quotes including the Figure of Speech Antithesis

Now is the winter of our discontent.

Now Hyperbaton is the winter of our discontent Metaphor Made glorious summer Metaphor by this son of York, Paronomasia And all the clouds that loured Metaphor upon our house Metonymy In the deep bosom of the ocean Metaphor buried Hyperbaton & Ellipsis . … continue reading this quote

Richard III

Deceit , deformity , false fronts , peace , war, alliteration , anaphora , anastrophe , antithesis , apostrophe , ellipsis , epistrophe , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , paronomasia , personification.

Celia Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally. Personification Rosalind I would we could do so, for her benefits are mightily misplaced, and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women. Celia ‘Tis true, … continue reading this quote

As You Like It

Celia , rosalind, fools , fortune , nature , wisdom , wit, anadiplosis , antimetabole , antithesis , metaphor , paronomasia , personification.

Queen Katherine , to the King I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham Is run in your displeasure.

When these so noble benefits shall prove Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt, They turn to vicious forms ten times more ugly Than ever they were fair.

King It grieves many. … continue reading this quote

Henry VIII , Queen Katherine

Fall from virtue, antithesis , hyperbaton , metaphor , parenthesis , simile, we must not make a scarecrow of the law.

Angelo We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it Antithesis Their perch and not their terror. Metaphor

Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all. Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall. … continue reading this quote

Measure for Measure

Angelo , escalus , provost, justice , law, alliosis , anadiplosis , analogy , antithesis , metaphor , rhetorical question , synecdoche, not for that neither. here’s the pang that pinches.

Anne Not for that neither. Anapodoton Here’s the pang that pinches: His Highness having lived so long with her Alliteration , and she So good a lady that no tongue could ever Pronounce dishonor of her— Parentheses by my life, She never knew harm-doing!—O, now, … continue reading this quote

Anne Bullen , Old Lady

Falling from fortune , hypocrisy, adynaton , alliosis , alliteration , anapodoton , anastrophe , antanaclasis , anthimeria , antithesis , aporia , apposition , ellipsis , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , oxymoron , parenthesis , personification , pysma , simile , synecdoche.

Duke , as Friar So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo? Claudio The miserable have no other medicine But only hope. I have hope to live and am prepared to die. Antithesis

To sue to live, I find I seek to die, And seeking death, … continue reading this quote

Claudio , Duke of Vienna

Antimetabole , antithesis , hyperbaton , metaphor , metonymy , paradox , personification , rhetorical question , simile, now, ursula, when beatrice doth come.

Hero Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come, As we do trace this alley up and down, Our talk must only be of Benedick. When I do name him, let it be thy part To praise him more than ever man did merit.

What fire is in mine ears?

My talk to thee must be how Benedick Is sick in love with Beatrice. … continue reading this quote

Much Ado About Nothing

Plays , sonnets, beatrice , hero , ursula, deceit , love, adynaton , allusion , anaphora , anapodoton , antithesis , apostrophe , diacope , epizeuxis , metaphor , metonymy , oxymoron , paradox , personification , simile , synecdoche.

Isabella Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her? Pysma Duke , as Friar Left her in her tears and dried not one of them with his comfort, swallowed his vows whole, Ellipsis & Metaphors pretending in her discoveries of dishonor; in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, … continue reading this quote

Duke of Vienna , Isabella

Alliteration , anthimeria , antithesis , ellipsis , isocolon , metaphor , pysma, now tell me, madam, do you love your children.

King Edward Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? Lady Grey Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. Anadiplosis & Epistrophe King Edward And would you not do much to do them good? Lady Grey To do them good I would sustain some harm. … continue reading this quote

Henry VI Pt 3

Clarence , king edward , lady grey , richard iii, love , marriage , seduction, alliosis , alliteration , anadiplosis , anaphora , antanaclasis , antithesis , epistrophe , hyperbole , isocolon , metaphor , simile , stichomythia.

Antony Friends, Romans, countrymen Exordium , lend me your ears Synecdoche ! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. Antithesis The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones Antithesis ; So let it be with Caesar. … continue reading this quote

Julius Caesar

Ambition , grief , honor, anadiplosis , antanaclasis , antithesis , aporia , aposiopesis , apostrophe , enthymeme , epistrophe , litotes , metaphor , pathos , personification , polysyndeton , prosopopoeia , rhetorical question , synecdoche.

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by Mary Dawson

** From her earliest childhood years writing simple songs and poems with her father, through her twelve years as an overseas missionary, to her present, multi-faceted career as an author, lyricist/songwriter and conference speaker, Mary has always been adept at using words to communicate her heart to others. She is the President of CQK Records & Music of Dallas, Texas, a company which creates and produces songs in a panorama of musical styles for a variety of audiences, She is also the host of " I Write the Songs ," a nationally syndicated radio talk show, especially created to inspire and instruct the more than 25 million aspiring songwriters in the U.S. "I Write the Songs" is broadcast over the Internet. Mary is a frequent public speaker and seminar lecturer on songwriting. She is a regular columnist for Independent Songwriter Web Magazine. Mary's commitment to discovering and mentoring talented new songwriters has given her extensive experience in song analysis through adjudicating songwriting competitions and conducting songwriting workshops across the country and around the world. Because of her role as president of an independent music company, she is also well qualified to instruct aspiring songwriters on the various business aspects of the music industry. She is married and a mother of four. She resides in the Dallas area.

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Home » Language » English Language » Literature » Difference Between Parallelism and Anaphora

Difference Between Parallelism and Anaphora

Main difference – parallelism vs anaphora                                                                   .

Parallelism and Anaphora are two rhetorical devices that are often used in literature as well as in orations. Parallelism is the use of successive verbal constructions which correspond in grammatical structure, sound, metre, meaning, etc. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. The main difference between parallelism and anaphora is that parallelism repeats equivalent syntactic constructions, with modifications to the meaning whereas anaphora repeats the same word or phrase.

What is Parallelism

Parallelism is the juxtaposition of two or more equivalent syntactic constructions, especially those expressing the same sentiment with slight modifications. It is the use of components that are grammatically the same or are similar in construction, meaning or sound. Parallelism has two functions; it can either join similar ideas to show their similarity or juxtapose contrasting ideas to show their difference. Parallelism can be created by using other rhetorical devices such as anaphora, antithesis , epistrophe, and asyndeton.

“To generalize about war is like generalizing about peace. Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true.”

(The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien)

Observe how two completely contrasting ideas like war and peace, everything and nothing have been juxtaposed in this excerpt. The grammatical structure of this excerpt, especially the last two lines, is also equivalent. Given below are some more examples of parallelism.

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” —John F. Kennedy

“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”  —Dale Carnegie

“To err is human; to forgive divine.” – Alexander Pope

What is Anaphora

Anaphora is a literary device where the first part of the sentence or clause is deliberately repeated in order to add emphasis and unity to a cluster of sentences. In this literary device, the first word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or sentences. Anaphora can be seen in many famous speeches since orators use this figure of speech to reinforce particular ideas and make them stand out.

“ We shall  not flag or fail.  We shall  go on to the end.  We shall  fight in France,  we shall  fight on the seas and oceans,  we shall  fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,  we shall  defend our island, whatever the cost may be,  we shall  fight on the beaches…” – Churchill

“Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Parallelism is the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose which correspond in grammatical structure, sound, metre, meaning, etc.

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Repetition vs Juxtaposition

Parallelism uses juxtaposition.

Anaphora uses repetition.

Parallelism repeats equivalent syntactic constructions, with modifications to the meaning.

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“Image 1”. by William Blake – William Blake Archive, (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia

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