Why is it used? what is its affect? It appeals to the feeling of your audience. By repeating a word or phrase, your readers or listeners start to anticipate the next line.
Example #1: Richard ll, Act 2, Scene 1 (By William Shakespeare)
“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings.
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,”
Example #2: A tale of 2 Cities (By Charles Dickens)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
My own example:
Then she went to the beach, then she went to buy ice cream, then she went to the changing rooms, then got undressed, then got in her swimming gear, then went surfing, then got to her car, then drove home
Hey Djarn,
ReplyDeleteMiss Morgan here - hopefully you remember who I am, if not I work across the Uru Manuka Cluster. I really like the way you have described the language effect, given two different examples and then created your own example. I haven't read Richard II but I did know the quote from Charles Dickens. Your example reminds me of a recount that younger children may tell. My suggestion would be that for the word 'then' maybe instead of a recount of steps it would be more poetic to think about a recount of emotions or senses? e.g. Then she felt the sunlight on her face, then she tasted summer on her tongue, then she felt compelled to surf the waves etc. etc. I also noticed that when I was writing I went with two words rather than one - "then she". It would be great if you could also find a way to link the examples so that people could be taken to the source of the quote for themselves. Do you think that this language effect is useful? Do you think it has more impact in written or spoken text?
I look forward to hearing from you,
Miss Morgan