And John McCain is Not
Just noticed the use of the epistrophe in Nancy Pelosi’s speech to the National Democratic Convention. An epistrophe is the opposite of the anaphora, which I wrote about earlier. An anaphora “is repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.” Thus, the epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.
Nancy Pelosi used this public speaking device while giving her speech about the virtues of Barack Obama. After every glowing thing about Obama, it was, “and John McCain is not.” That’s a good device because it gets the audience involved in your speech. The audience can anticipate it and begins repeating it.
Anyway, just a note on that device.
Posted: August 25th, 2008 under Public Speaking Tips.
Tags: anaphora, barack obama, democratic convention 2008, epistrophe, nancy pelosi