anaforie

Anaforie is a linguistic and rhetorical device that consists of the repetition of a word or a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences or verses. The term derives from the Greek “anáphora” meaning “carrying back” and is used to create emphasis, rhythm, and cohesion in both spoken and written discourse. In rhetoric, anaforie is employed to persuade or evoke an emotional response, as the repeated element draws the listener’s attention and reinforces the central idea.

In syntactic analysis, anaforie can also refer to the use of anaphoric elements such as pronouns or lexical items that depend on a prior antecedent for their interpretation. This type of anaphoric reference is essential for the cohesion of texts, allowing speakers to avoid redundancy while maintaining clarity. Languages differ in the mechanisms they provide for anaphoric linking; for example, Romance languages rely heavily on gender‑and number‑matching pronouns, whereas languages with rich inflection may use verb forms or particles.

Literary examples of anaforie include the famous opening of Charles Dickens’s *A Tale of Two Cities*: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”, and the biblical Psalm 136, where each verse ends with the refrain “for His love endures forever.” Such repetition underscores thematic unity and aids memorisation, illustrating the enduring functional and aesthetic value of anaforie across genres.