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Welcome! I’m participating in the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge where I’ll share 26 posts on the theme “The Poet’s Alphabet: 26 Secrets for Crafting Beautiful Poetry”. In each post, I’ll offer bite-sized tips and tricks for crafting and perfectly editing poetry. Today’s tip is:

Use Repetition for Emphasis

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Repetition can be a powerful tool in poetry, allowing you to emphasize key ideas or themes. Experiment with repeating words, phrases, or even entire lines to create a sense of rhythm and resonance in your work.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” is a great example of how repetition can be used to emphasize key ideas and themes. Throughout the poem, Angelou repeats the phrase “I rise” as a way of asserting her strength and resilience in the face of adversity. By repeating this phrase, Angelou creates a sense of rhythm and momentum that builds throughout the poem.

For example, in the second stanza of the poem, Angelou writes:

"Just like moons and like suns, 
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high, 
Still I'll rise."

The repetition of “Just like” in this stanza emphasizes the idea that Angelou’s strength is as natural and inevitable as the movements of the moon and sun. The repetition of “Still I’ll rise” at the end of the stanza reinforces the idea that no matter what challenges she faces, she will always persevere.

Angelou also uses repetition to emphasize the importance of identity and self-worth. In the fourth stanza, she writes:

"Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise 
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear 
I rise"

The repetition of “I rise” in these lines serves as a reminder that Angelou’s identity and sense of self-worth cannot be taken away by external circumstances. The repetition also creates a sense of uplift and hope, as if each repetition is a step upward toward a brighter future.

So now you know how repetition can be used as a powerful technique to emphasize key ideas and themes, creating a sense of rhythm and momentum that propels the poem forward.

Suggested Read: Thou Art Love- A poem where I have used repetition to emphasise the core idea of the poem.

Hope you found this tip useful.

See you with another tip, tomorrow.

This post is a part of the #BlogchatterA2Z 2023 challenge.

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