Template:Sister Polyptoton (pronounced /ˌpɒlɨpˈtoʊtɒn/) is the stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated (e.g. "strong" and "strength"). A related stylistic device is antanaclasis, in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a different sense. In inflected languages polyptoton is the same word being repeated but appearing each time in a different case. (e.g. "Iuppiter," "Iovis," "Iovi," "Iovem," "Iove" [in Latin being the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative forms of Iuppiter, respectively]).
Examples[]
- "The Greeks are strong, and skillful to their strength, Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;" William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida I, i, 7-8
- "With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder." William Shakespeare Richard II II,i,37
- "Not as a call to battle, though embattled we are." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
- "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 1933
- "Thou art of blood, joy not to make things bleed." Sir Philip Sidney
- "We have been...treading trodden trails for a long, long time." Dave Matthews Band, "So Much to Say", 1996
- "Working hard or hardly working?" (author unknown)
- "Say no to no." (author unknown)
- "Who shall watch the watchmen themselves (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)?" Juvenal
- "Diamond me no diamonds, prize me no prizes..." Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine
- "I'm a man who likes talking to a man that likes to talk." [Caspar Gutman to Sam Spade, Chapter XI (The Fat Man) in Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)]
- "'Twins close deal for a closer'" (headline in "Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 30, 2010, about the acquisition by the Minnesota Twins of All-Star relief pitcher Matt Capps)
- "Stepping steps of floating floats that float above such shining notes they know, just where we should rest." Portugal. The Man, "My Mind" from Church Mouth
References[]
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
See also[]
- Antanaclasis
- Cognate object
- Figure of speech
- Rhetoric
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