Understanding Diacope: Definition and Examples of Diacope

Diacope is a rhetorical device that involves the repetition of words, separated by a small number of intervening words. It comes from the Greek word thiakhop, meaning “cutting in two.” The number of words in between the repeated words of a diacope can vary, but it should be few enough to produce a rhetorical effect.

Diacope is similar to other literary devices including epizeuxis (which features repetition in quick succession without the repeated words), anadiplosis (which is repetition is separated by a line break rather than words), and epanalepsis (which features repetition at the beginning and end of a sentence). It is possible for a figure of speech to be both a diacope and an epanalepsis, as in the sentence, “The king is dead, long live the king.”

There are three ways in which diacope can be used in writing:

1. 1. Vocative diacope: This type of diacope features repeated words separated by nouns of direct address. The word that sits between the repetition can be a name, pronoun, or plural noun, but it should be in the vocative case, meaning that it addresses a specific person or group of people. Antony’s cry, “I am dying, Egypt, dying,” from Act 4 Scene 15 of Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare is a good example of a vocative diacope. Antony addresses Egypt, a metonym for his beloved, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt.
2. 2. Elaborative diacope: This type of diacope uses an adjective, or another explanatory word, between the repeated words to clarify or enhance the meaning of the repeated word or phrase. The phrase “from sea to shining sea” from the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates is an elaborative diacope: Bates elaborates on the word “sea” with the descriptive adjective “shining.”
3. 3. Extended diacope: An extended diacope is any diacope in which a word is repeated three times for even more emphasis. A classic example is Juliet’s soliloquy from Act 2 Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

The best way to understand diacopes is by reading them. Here are a couple of examples of diacope from classic literature:

1. 1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1609): “To be or not to be? That is the question.” This famous line from Act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet features the repetition of “to be” separated by two words, “or not.” This close repetition emphasizes the delicate line between life and death as Hamlet contemplates suicide.
2. 2. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1864): “I hate to be poor, and we are degradingly poor, offensively poor, miserably poor, beastly poor.” In this line from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, Bella Wilfer emphasizes her frustration with poverty through her repetition of the word “poor.” The adverbs between each instance of “poor” are elaborative: They further explain how she feels about being poor.

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