"Epanastrophe" Pronounce,Meaning And Examples

"Epanastrophe" Meaning

Epanastrophe is a rhetorical device in which the last phrase or sentence of a sequence of clauses or a series of sentences is repeated as the first phrase or sentence of the next sequence or series. This creates an effect of repetition and rhythm, often used to emphasize a point or drive home a message. It is also known as inversion or chiasmus.

"Epanastrophe" Examples

Epanastrophe: The Art of Climactic Conclusion


Epanastrophe is a literary device where the original word or phrase is inverted at the end of a sentence or passage, creating a sense of climax or dramatic effect. Here are 5 examples of epanastrophe:

Example 1: Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

'More things in heaven and earth, Horatio, are not so, than are dreamt of in thy philosophy.'

In this example, the original phrase "more things in heaven and earth" is inverted to emphasize the idea that there are many more things beyond human understanding.

Example 2: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The inverted phrase "shall not perish from the earth" drives home the importance of preserving democracy.

Example 3: John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Here, the inverted phrase "because they are hard" underscores the challenge and significance of the mission.

Example 4: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

"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; and when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The inverted phrase "free at last" is a powerful expression of the dream of a unified society.

Example 5: Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" Speech

"The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we fail, then the whole world... is lost. The only fear that has ever afflicted us is that we may not be able to go on with our duty to the end, until