Epistrophe

Epistrophe is repetition at the end of a clause or even paragraph. Verse-chorus structures can be thought of as elaborate epistrophes.¹ Also known as epiphora and antistrophe. Kind of the opposite of Anaphora.² From Greek “turning about”³ or “returning.”⁴

Examples include:

• “A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman!” —Shakespeare⁵
• “Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. … An’ when our folk eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there.” —John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath²