epistrophe epistrophe
 e-pis'-tro-fee from Gk. epi, "upon" and strophe, "turning"
("wheeling about")
antistrophe, epiphora
conversio
the counter turne, conversion

Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.
 
Examples
 

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —Emerson

Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you. [. . .]
Scarcity and want shall shun you,
Ceres' blessing so is on you.
— Shakespeare, The Tempest (4.1.108-109; 116-17)

We are born to sorrow, pass our time in sorrow, end our days in sorrow.

Related Figures
 

 
  Sources: Ad Herennium 4.13.19 ("conversio"); Sherry (1550) 47 ("antistrophe," "conversio"); Peacham (1577) I1v ("epiphora"); Suarez ("conversio" "epistrophe" "antistrophe") 59r; Fraunce (1588) 1.20 ("epistrophe," "conversion"); Putt. (1589) 208 ("antistrophe," "the counter turne"); Day 1599 85; Hoskins (1599)13


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University
Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae" (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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