What does epanalepsis mean?
Epanalepsis is a rhetorical device in which the same word or phrase appears at both the beginning and the end of a clause or sentence, framing the statement so that it comes full circle. A famous example is Shakespeare's line in King Lear, 'Nothing will come of nothing,' where the repeated 'nothing' brackets the utterance and drives its meaning home. The term derives from Greek roots meaning literally 'a taking up again,' and in linguistics it can also describe the grammatical resumption of an earlier sentence element after a digression. Epanalepsis lends writing emphasis, symmetry, and a sense of inevitability, which is why it has been prized by orators and poets since antiquity. It remains chiefly a term of rhetoric, literary criticism, and stylistics rather than of casual conversation, but recognizing it deepens one's appreciation of how repetition shapes persuasion and poetry alike.
nounA rhetorical figure in which a word or phrase that begins a clause or sentence is repeated at its end, after intervening material. More broadly in linguistics, it can refer to the resumption of an earlier element of a sentence after a digression.
- The repetition of a word or phrase at both the beginning and end of a clause or sentence (a rhetorical figure).
- In linguistics, the resumption or re-taking-up of an earlier sentence element after an interruption.
"The speech closed with epanalepsis: 'Nothing will come of nothing,' the king warned, and nothing came of it."
"The poet's use of epanalepsis — opening and closing the stanza with the word 'home' — gave it a haunting circularity."
"In 'Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice', the epistle offers a near-classic instance of epanalepsis."
The standard English plural follows the Greek-derived -is/-es pattern, as with 'analyses' and 'catalyses'. It is rarely needed outside academic writing on rhetoric.
"The textbook catalogued dozens of epanalepses drawn from Elizabethan drama."
Shakespeare built King Lear's bleakest line — 'Nothing will come of nothing' — around this ancient Greek trick of saying it once more to make it stick.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of epanalepsis
Epanalepsis comes from the Greek epanalēpsis, meaning 'a taking up again' or 'resumption,' formed from epanalambanein ('to take up again') — itself from epi- ('again') plus analambanein ('to take up'). The term was adopted into Latin rhetorical terminology by classical grammarians and entered English in the late sixteenth century through Renaissance treatments of rhetoric. It shares its Greek root family with related terms such as ellipsis, prolepsis, and catalepsis, all built on the verb lambanein, 'to take.'
How epanalepsis is actually used
Epanalepsis is a technical term confined largely to rhetoric, literary criticism, and linguistics; it is rare in everyday speech. It belongs to the classical family of figures of repetition and is typically discussed alongside devices such as anaphora, epiphora, and epizeuxis.
Easily confused with epanalepsis
Ellipsis is the omission of words from a sentence, while epanalepsis is the repetition of a word at both the beginning and end of a clause.
Epizeuxis is the immediate repetition of a word with no words in between ('Never, never, never'), whereas epanalepsis separates the repeated word by intervening material.
Anadiplosis repeats the last word of one clause at the start of the next, while epanalepsis repeats a word at both ends of the same clause.