Diacope Explained

Diacope is a rhetorical term meaning repetition of a word or phrase that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.^{[1] [2]} It derives from a Greek word diakopḗ,^{[3] [4]} which means "cut in two".^{[5] [6]} Diacopae (or diacopes) is used in writing to emphasize or describe something. Like other forms of repetition, diacope helps express strong emotions, or help give weight to the repeated word.^[7]

Types of Diacope

Diacope can be utilized in three ways in writing. They are:

1. Vocative Diacope: In this type of diacope, the repeated words are separated by nouns that are directly addressed. The noun must address something, or someone.
2. Elaborative Diacope: Here an adjective is used between the repeated words to enhance the meaning of the repeated word.
3. Extended Diacope: Sometimes a word is repeated thrice for even more emphasis.^[8]

Examples

• "Bond. James Bond." — James Bond
• "Put out the light, and then put out the light." — Shakespeare, Othello, Act V, scene 2.
• "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! — Richard III
• "You think you own whatever land you land on" — Second verse from the song "Colors of the Wind" from the movie Pocahontas
• Leo Marks's poem "The Life That I Have",^[9] memorably used in the film Odette, is an extended example of diacope:

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have

Is yours.

The love that I have

Of the life that I have

Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have

A rest I shall have

Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years

In the long green grass

Will be yours and yours and yours.

The first line in the poem not to deploy diacope is the one about death being "a pause."

• "In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." — Paul Harvey. This is also an example of an epanalepsis.
• "Keeps going and going and going." — Energizer Slogan (Example of Extended Diacope)
• "I am dying, Egypt, dying" — Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, Scene 15. (Example of Vocative Diacope)
• "You held me down, but I got up (hey) Already brushing off the dust You hear my voice, you hear that sound Like thunder, gonna shake the ground You held me down, but I got up (hey) Get ready 'cause I've had enough I see it all, I see it now"

Here, the repetition of "You held me down, but I got up" emphasizes the main idea of the song. This shows the existence of diacope in pop culture.^[10]

See also

• Epizeuxis
• Tmesis

Notes and References

1. Book: Phillips, Edward. The New World of Words Or Universal English Dictionary Containing and Account of the Original Or Proper Sense and Various Significations of All Hard Words Derived from Other Languages. 1720. J. Phillips. en.
2. Book: Walker, John. Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language, Adapted to the Present State of Literature and Science. 1874. Simpkin, Marshall. en.
3. Web site: 2016-04-11. Diacope - Examples and Definition of Diacope. 2021-06-02. Literary Devices. en-US.
4. News: Mining Rhetorical Devices by means of Natural Language Processing.
5. http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/diacopeterm.htm "Diacope," by Richard Nordquist.
6. News: Want to get noticed at the workplace? These word tricks are all you need - Times of India. 2021-06-02. The Times of India. en.
7. Web site: 2015-03-26 . Diacope: Definition and Examples . 2023-12-02 . Literary Terms . en.
8. Web site: MasterClass . August 4, 2021 . Understanding Diacope: Definition and Examples of Diacope . December 1, 2023 . MasterClass.
9. Book: Marks, Leo. Between Silk and Cyanide. 1998. The Free Press (Simon and Schuster). New York. 0-684-86422-3. 454. registration.
10. Web site: 2015-03-26 . Diacope: Definition and Examples . 2023-12-02 . Literary Terms . en.