Alliteration or anaphor?
You must have discussed the rhetorical stylistic devices in class during your school days and had to find them using poems. The anaphora and the alliteration are both very well-known stylistic devices, but despite the relative similarity of names, there is a difference in meaning and use.
The anaphor is a rhetorical stylistic device
- The anaphor is a rhetorical word figure and has its origin in Greek. Here anaphorá stands for the back-relation or the leading back.
- In Latin, the reference is to be found in the word referre, refero means in translation: I am referring to ...
- A single or multiple word repetition at the beginning of a line or of a verse is the word figure called an anaphor. It gives the texts a certain structure and at the same time serves to create a rhythm.
- The multiple repetition of one or more words emphasizes the meaning of these.
- An example could be, "The sun rises and the day begins. The sun rises and the table is set. The sun rises and everyone is looking forward to the new day... "The repetition of the words" The sun rises "is the anaphor. It clearly highlights what is special, namely the sunrise.
Do you also have the various rhetorical stylistic devices during your school days ...
The anaphor is one of the oldest, also very simple and frequently used rhetorical stylistic devices.
In contrast to this, there is alliteration
The word alliteration comes from Latin and is made up of the two words "ad" and "littera". Translated this means "to the letter".
- This already gives the appearance of alliteration, a string of words with the same initial letter. An example could be: "Win large, shiny gold coins."
- Such an alliteration is a rhetorical ornament. It puts the coherence of the words in the foreground and at the same time fulfills the task of making the text appear particularly sonorous, of "decorating" it.
- Alliterations are also often used with the so-called tongue twisters. You probably also know the famous tongue twister with the ten tame goats that pull cement to the cement factory, or from Fischer's Fritz, who fishes fresh fish.
- Another criterion for using an alliteration is the fact that it is particularly easy to memorize and that the listener will quickly remember it. This is particularly popular in advertising.
A more precise definition of the difference between the two stylistic devices is not possible, both emphasize the meaning of the text, whereby the anaphor is used less often than the alliteration. However, this is more due to the fact that the alliteration is simpler to form. A little practice is usually required to incorporate an anaphor into a text in a meaningful way.
