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The most memorable moment – actually the only memorable moment – of the 1988 vice-presidential debate came when Dan Quayle, a young candidate for the office, suggested that he had as much experience as did John Kennedy before he was elected president. The reply of Quayle’s opponent, Lloyd Bentsen, is still remembered by most who heard it and has passed into cultural currency among many who didn’t: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy; I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy. The substance of this riposte, like the substance of Churchill’s line at the end of the last chapter, could have been said in many ways, most of which would have made no lasting impression. It owes its fame to EPISTROPHE (e-pis-tro-phee – sometimes also known as antistrophe): the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a series of sentences or clauses. Notice that the repeated element, Jack Kennedy, is put at the front rather than the end of the third clause, then moved back to the end for the finish. The variety adds to the force of the device when it resumes.

The general purposes of epistrophe tend to be similar to those of anaphora, but the sound is different, and often a bit subtler, because the repetition does not become evident until each time a sentence or clause ends. Sometimes epistrophe also is easier to use, and it tends to be convenient on different occasions, because the parts of speech that most naturally go at the end of an English sentence or clause aren’t the same as the ones that come most naturally at the start.

1. Different actions, same objects. Epistrophe is useful for describing various actions done by the same actor toward or concerning the same thing.

[T]o say nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have nothing, is to be a great part of your title, which is within a very little of nothing.

All’s Well that Ends Well, 2, 4

They criticise every thing, analyse every thing, argue upon every thing, dogmatise upon every thing; and the bundle of your habits, feelings, humours, follies and pursuits is regarded by them no more than a bundle of old clothes.

Hazlitt, Mr. Jeffrey (1825)

And this right to live includes, and in fact is, the right to be what the child likes and can, to do what it likes and can, to make what it likes and can, to think what it likes and can, to smash what it dislikes and can, and generally to behave in an altogether unaccountable manner within the limits imposed by the similar rights of its neighbors.

Shaw, A Treatise on Parents and Children (1910)

In these last two cases the words repeated by the epistrophe may not be the ones most emphasized; rather, the device gives the verbs more emphasis by treating each of them as entitled to its own phrase, not just to a place on a list. This same construction also can be used, usually with fewer repetitions, just to unify claims and lend them euphony.

The constituency has judged me; it has elected me; I stand here with no legal disqualification upon me.

Bradlaugh, speech in the House of Commons (1881)

The sentence probably would be sound as a grammatical matter without the last two words, but they join the ending with the rest of the sentence and the process it describes. Epistrophe is helpful generally for thus driving home a progression through stages. The progression in that last example was literal: a march through events. But it also can be a progression through stronger claims:

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.

Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)

2. Same action, different doers or recipients, as when the speaker means to describe several people all doing the same thing or meeting the same fate. In plainest form, the speaker simply attaches different subjects to the same verb.

We claim that the government, while the Constitution recognizes our property for the purposes of taxation, shall give it the same protection that it gives yours. Ought it not to be so? You say no. Every one of you upon the committee said no. Your senators say no. Your House of Representatives says no. Throughout the length and breadth of your conspiracy against the Constitution there is but one shout of no!

Toombs, speech in the Senate (1861)

The usual effect of this pattern is a sense of comprehensiveness: everyone does (or doesn’t do) the same thing, and the sameness of whatever is done is made more prominent than the doers of it.

The great preachers of our capital have not said so; Mr. Dunn, that meek spirit of the gospel, he has not said so; Mr. Douglass, in his strain of piety, morals, and eloquence, he has not said so; nor the great luminary himself; he who has wrung from his own breast, as it were, near £60,000, by preaching for public charities, and has stopped the mouth of hunger for public charities, and has stopped the mouth of hunger with its own bread, he has not said so.

Grattan, speech in the House of Commons (1805)

That perfect liberty they sigh for – the liberty of making slaves of other people, Jefferson never thought of, their own fathers never thought of, they never thought of themselves, a year ago.

Lincoln, debate with Stephen Douglas at Peoria (1854)

The same construction can be put to passive use: those to whom something is done change, but the thing done to them stays the same, and is repeated at the end:

Death is Nature’s remedy for all things, and why not Legislation’s? Accordingly, the forger was put to Death; the utterer of a bad note was put to Death; the unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death; the purloiner of forty shillings and sixpence was put to Death; the holder of a horse at Tellson’s door, who made off with it, was put to Death; the coiner of a bad shilling was put to Death; the sounders of three-fourths of the notes in the whole gamut of Crime, were put to Death.

Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

3. Changes in tense or mood. The subject and the primary action may stay the same, with variation only in the use of the auxiliary verbs that go with them.

By the rejection of the bill, they seemed to declare, that the House had been bought, was bought, and should be bought again.

Grattan, speech in the Irish Parliament (1792)

I have been faithful to you, and useful to you, and I am attached to you. But I can’t consent, and I won’t consent, and I never did consent, and I never will consent to be lost in you.

Dickens, Little Dorrit (1857)

That example from Dickens is a double case of epistrophe; the second sentence illustrates our current pattern. One result of the device is to stress the occurrence of the action at all times, but notice that he also weaves in language of ability or obligation: not just never did and never will but also can’t and won’t. The same general idea:

I do not know whether in all countries or in all ages that responsibility could be maintained, but I do say that here and now in this wealthy country and in this scientific age it does in my opinion exist, is not discharged, ought to be discharged, and will have to be discharged.

Churchill, speech at Dundee (1908)

4. Things sharing the same quality, which is repeated at the end of every example.

In the first place, the transaction was illegal from beginning to end. The impeachment was illegal. The process was illegal. The service was illegal. If Charles wished to prosecute the five members for treason, a bill against them should have been sent to a grand jury.

Macaulay, Hallam (1828)

The French Revolution is of Christian origin. The newspaper is of Christian origin. The anarchists are of Christian origin. Physical science is of Christian origin. The attack on Christianity is of Christian origin. There is one thing, and one thing only, in existence at the present day which can in any sense accurately be said to be of pagan origin, and that is Christianity.

Chesterton, Heretics (1905)

In both of those examples the speaker is making a comprehensive claim – illegal from beginning to end, for example, or that everything except Christianity is of Christian origin. The epistrophe causes the pervasiveness to be felt more fully than it would if claimed once in simple form.

In another effective use of the same pattern, the speaker borrows a word offered by another – perhaps by an antagonist – and gives his own examples of its meaning. Irony or indignation are at home in these constructions.

“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843)

“Mr. Micawber,” said I, “what is the matter? Pray speak out. You are among friends.”

“Among friends, Sir?” repeated Mr. Micawber; and all he had reserved came breaking out of him. “Good Heavens, it is principally because I am among friends that my state of mind is what it is. What is the matter, gentlemen? What is not the matter? Villainy is the matter; baseness is the matter; deception, fraud, conspiracy, are the matter; and the name of the whole atrocious mass is–HEEP!”

Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)

[A]nd if I cannot say fie upon them, what shall I say of the men who, with these things of a constant and perpetual occurrence staring them in the face, talk to us of the immorality of the ballot, and tell us, forsooth, that it is an un-English proceeding. Un-English! . . . Fraud is indeed un-English; and dissimulation, and deception, and duplicity, and double-dealing, and promise-breaking, all, every vice akin to these vile things are indeed un-English; but tyranny, base, abominable tyranny, is un-English; hard-hearted persecution of poor fanatic wretches is un-English; crouching fear on one side, and ferocious menace and relentless savageness upon the other, are un-English! Of your existing system of voting these are the consequences.

Sheil, speech in the House of Commons (1843)

5. Same general condition, different details, as when the speaker means to apply several adjectives or adverbs to the same complement or object:

I hate to be poor, and we are degradingly poor, offensively poor, miserably poor, beastly poor.

Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1865)

The divisions between uses of this pattern lie in about the same places as we have seen under other recent headings. Sometimes the effect is to stress the general condition over the detailed variations on it, as in the example just shown and here:

The tariff is a usurpation; it is a dangerous usurpation; it is a palpable usurpation; it is a deliberate usurpation.

Webster, Reply to Hayne (1830)

It might be presumptuous to say that I took a leading part, but I certainly took an early part, a decided part, and an earnest part, in rejecting this broad grant of three millions of dollars, without limitation of purpose or specification of object, called for by no recommendation, founded on no estimate, made necessary by no state of things which was known to us.

Webster, speech in the Senate (1836)

That example from Webster includes, after the epistrophe, an attractive use of isocolon – the use of consecutive phrases with a repeated structure (and not necessarily with repeated words, though in Webster’s case the repeated no in the last three rounds is a little use of conduplicatio). We consider isocolon fully in a later chapter.

The speaker also may wish to make claims that are more distinct, and use the epistrophe at the end not to emphasize the repeated words for their own sake but to link the different claims in some way – perhaps for the sake of comparison, as here:

That is the wisdom of the past, for all wisdom is not new wisdom.

Churchill, speech in the House of Commons (1938)

That this House should have no power of expulsion is a hard saying. That this House should have a general discretionary power of disqualification is a dangerous saying. That the people should not choose their own representative, is a saying that shakes the Constitution. That this House should name the representative, is a saying which, followed by practice, subverts the constitution.

Burke, Speech Relative to the Middlesex Election (1771)

Notice that each of these last two examples varies the position of the repeated element, using it at the end of a phrase or sentence twice (the epistrophe) but then also using it in the middle of another phrase or two. In Burke’s case the word saying is moved from the end of the first two sentences to the middle of the last two – which makes room for a fresh round of epistrophe with constitution.

6. Different acts done in the same way: a construction typically used to make the influence of a modifier seem pervasive.

I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.

The Merchant of Venice, 1, 3

“You see me, young man; I never learned Greek, and I don’t find that I have ever missed it. I have had a Doctor’s cap and gown without Greek; I have ten thousand florins a year without Greek; I eat heartily without Greek; and, in short,” continued he, “as I don’t know Greek, I do not believe there is any good in it.”

Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

[T]hey judge of us with a true knowledge of, and just deference for, our character – that a country enlightened as Ireland, chartered as Ireland, armed as Ireland, and injured as Ireland, will be satisfied with nothing less than liberty.

Grattan, speech in the Irish Parliament (1790)

I confided all to my aunt when I got home; and in spite of all she could say to me, went to bed despairing. I got up despairing, and went out despairing.

Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)

I look upon that enactment not as a law, but as a violence from the beginning. It was conceived in violence, is maintained in violence, and is being executed in violence.

Lincoln, letter to Joshua Speed (1855)

7. Different conditions, identical outcome: a useful construction when the speaker wishes to show emphatically that all roads lead to the same place.

When we call on you to abolish the fatal impost which keeps the country in paroxysm of excitement, you cry out,“the Church!” When we bid you rescue the country from the frightful litigation which turns our courts of justice into an arena for the combat of the political passions, you cry out, “the Church!” And when we implore you to fulfill your contract at the Union, do redeem your pledge, given the emancipation, to extend to us British privileges, and grant us British institutions, you cry out,“the Church!”

Sheil, speech in the House of Commons (1837)

To ensure good behavior, the slaveholder relies on the whip; to induce proper humility, he relies on the whip; to rebuke what he is pleased to term insolence, he relies on the whip; to supply the place of wages, as an incentive to toil, he relies on the whip; to bind down the spirit of the slave, to imbrute and to destroy his manhood, he relies on the whip.

Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)

All children ought to love him. I know two that do, and read his books ten times for once that they peruse the dismal preachments of their father. I know one who, when she is happy, reads “Nicholas Nickleby”; when she is unhappy, reads “Nicholas Nickleby”; when she is tired, reads “Nicholas Nickleby”; when she is in bed, reads “Nicholas Nickleby”; when she has nothing to do, reads “Nicholas Nickleby”; and when she has finished the book, reads “Nicholas Nickleby” over again.

Thackeray, speech at New York (1852)

The pattern can be used to sketch a progression, with each possibility more extreme than the last but nevertheless leading to the same conclusion:

I had swooned; but still will not say that all of consciousness was lost. What of it there remained I will not attempt to define, or even to describe; yet all was not lost. In the deepest slumber – no! In delirium – no! In a swoon – no! In death – no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man.

Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum (1843)

He got a colony of mice, and cut off their tails. Then he waited to see whether their children would be born without tails. They were not, as Butler could have told him beforehand. He then cut off the children’s tails, and waited to see whether the grandchildren would be born with at least rather short tails. They were not, as I could have told him beforehand. So with the patience and industry on which men of science pride themselves, he cut off the grandchildren’s tails too, and waited, full of hope, for the birth of curtailed great-grandchildren. But their tails were quite up to the mark, as any fool could have told him beforehand.

Shaw, Back to Methuselah (1921)

8. Anaphora and epistrophe. Anaphora and epistrophe can complement each other. Alternating where the repetition is placed – at the beginning of a series of phrases, then at the end – may be used to create an appealing sense of balance.

The things required for prosperous labor, prosperous manufactures, and prosperous commerce are three: first, liberty; secondly, liberty; thirdly, liberty – but these are not merely the same liberty, as I shall show you.

Beecher, speech at Liverpool (1863)

The poor man buys simply for his body; he buys food, he buys clothing, he buys fuel, he buys lodging. His rule is to buy the least and the cheapest that he can. He goes to the store as seldom as he can – he brings away as little as he can – and he buys for the least he can.

Beecher, speech at Liverpool (1863)

Think you that judgment waits till the doors of the grave are opened? It waits at the doors of your houses – it waits at the corners of your streets; we are in the midst of judgment – the insects that we crush are our judges – the moments we fret away are our judges – the elements that feed us, judge, as they minister – and the pleasures that deceive us, judge, as they indulge.

Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies (1865)

In those cases anaphora was followed by epistrophe. Here is the reverse sequence:

But all depends now upon the whole life-strength of the British race in every part of the world and of all our associated peoples and of all our well-wishers in every land, doing their utmost night and day, giving all, daring all, enduring all – to the utmost – to the end.

Churchill, London radio broadcast (1940)

Anaphora and epistrophe also can be interlaced, as in this case where the middle phrase participates in both patterns:

No other principle makes a good soldier; conquer or die is the battle-cry for the good soldier; conquer or die is his only security. . . .

O’Connell, speech at Mullaghmast (1843)

A classic form of transition from epistrophe to anaphora repeats a word at the end of the first two phrases, then moves it to the front of the phrases that come afterwards. The result is secure joinder of the two parts.

Gentlemen call for security; we call for security; we call for security against a policy which would make the British name in Ireland odious; we call for security against a policy which would make the British faith in Ireland equivocal; we call for security against a policy which would disinherit, disquality, and palsy a fourth part of the empire.

Grattan, speech in the House of Commons (1812)

My nephew, I introduce to you a lady of strong force of character, like myself – a resolved lady, a stern lady, a lady who has a will that can break the weak to powder: a lady without pity, without love, implacable, revengeful, cold as the stone, but raging as the fire.

Dickens, Little Dorrit (1857)

Notice the two rounds of anaphora at the end of this last case; and notice throughout how the lengths of the units expand and contract – an important theme considered more fully in the chapter on isocolon.

9. Uses of variety. As with anaphora and other repetitive devices, the strongest uses of epistrophe sometimes are made by establishing the pattern and then abandoning it. Thus it often is effective to repeat an ending a few times and then drop it in the concluding phrase; the finale is given a push because it releases the energy created by the earlier rounds of repetition.

I will not parade the two old women, whose untimely and unseemly introduction into the dress-circle of diplomacy was hardly to have been expected of the high official whose name is at the bottom of this paper. They prove nothing, they disprove nothing, they illustrate nothing – except that a statesman may forget himself.

Holmes, John Lothrop Motley: A Memoir (1879)

Slavery shrinks from the light; it hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved.

Douglass, speech at London (1846)

These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise.

Stephen, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873)

10. Note on Lincoln’s applications. We have seen examples of Lincoln’s use of epistrophe already, though not yet his most famous use of the device – probably the most famous instance of it in English:

. . . that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863)

He borrowed the idea partly from Daniel Webster.

It is, Sir, the people’s Constitution, the people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

Webster, Reply to Hayne (1830)

Lincoln was a master of epistrophe. Here he uses it in five or six different ways to make his consistency a rhetorical as well as a substantive fact:

If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

Lincoln, letter to Horace Greeley (1862)

Lincoln also made frequent use of a particular kind of epistrophe in which he repeated a word or phrase at the end of both halves of a sentence with little space between them.

This is a world of compensation; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave.

Lincoln, letter to H.L. Pierce (1859)

I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power.

Lincoln, letter to A.G. Hodges (1864)

[T]he thing which determines whether a man is free or a slave is rather concrete than abstract. I think you would conclude that it was, if your liberty depended upon it, and so would Judge Douglas, if his liberty depended upon it.

Lincoln, speech at Springfield (1858)

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863)

Here as elsewhere, Lincoln’s ear was influenced by the King James Bible.

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:15

And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

Genesis 13:6