Anaphora: a writing exercise for your notebook

What does anaphora mean in a writing exercise?

Rhetorical anaphora puts the same words at the start of successive units. The OQLF distinguishes that repetition from a grammatical reference made with a pronoun. Here you work with the first meaning, in short prose or a poem.

An original example invented for this page: “Under the lamp, a button rolls. Under the lamp, thread makes a loop. Under the lamp, a cup grows cold.” The opening returns while the things shown change. A rhyme, intimate memory, or positive message is optional.

This format is for an adult trying a writing constraint. For a school assignment, follow your teacher’s criteria. For a collection of objects, a list poem may be enough; for a vertical set of initials, choose a personal acrostic.

How do you choose an opening that leaves room?

Choose an opening that allows several details to follow. “In the courtyard” opens a scene; a sentence that already describes the whole scene may leave little to add. Try your opening with two ideas before keeping it.

Start with a place described through the senses or an ordinary moment. These openings are workshop suggestions, not phrases to repeat to change your mood. Pick another opening when you can no longer find anything for it to carry.

How can the rest vary while the rule stays fixed?

Change the action, object, or distance of the viewpoint after the opening. Repeating the beginning and saying the same thing three times follows a pattern but may not serve your project. Temporarily remove the opening: what remains in each line?

In our example, the button moves, the thread forms a loop, and the cup suggests time passing. You may prefer three quick actions or three still details. That choice belongs to your text. The guide to writing with constraints separates rules from effects; a metaphor notebook offers another direction when an image stays vague.

What does the anaphora workshop actually check?

The workshop compares your opening with the beginning of each nonempty line. It allows differences in capitalization, spaces, and straight or curved apostrophes but keeps accents distinct. An opening joined directly to another word does not count as a match. It recognizes neither grammar nor poetic intention.

A line break is not necessarily a sentence ending: it is the unit chosen for this small tool. For prose, put each segment you want to examine on its own line. Nothing you enter is sent or saved; copy any draft you want to keep yourself. Without JavaScript, make the same comparison on paper.

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How do anaphora, epistrophe, and grammatical reference differ?

Look at where the repeated words appear before naming the device. At the beginning, look for anaphora; at the end of neighboring phrases, look for epistrophe. “The notebook is open. It waits on the table” uses a pronoun to refer back to a noun: it is not this repetition exercise.

The Academy of American Poets also describes repeated words at the start of lines. Alloprof separates identification from interpretation. Recognizing a device is therefore not enough to explain what it changes in this particular text.

How do you finish and reread your draft?

Compare an ending that repeats the opening with an ending that leaves it behind. Breaking the pattern is a choice, not an automatic error. Keep the version whose effect you can explain, even simply: slowing down, bringing two details together, or leaving a question open.

The practice of reading aloud may let you hear the return; silent reading remains possible. Keep different versions in a creative project notebook. You can return to other journaling formatsafterward. Miraya offers small steps and a gratitude space in its iPhone app; those features may accompany a personal ritual without correcting or evaluating your poem.

For a complementary perspective, watch this video from Boylit.

Can you combine anaphora with a lipogram?

Both rules can coexist if the opening avoids the forbidden letter. Start by checking that opening alone. With “I see,” an e-family challenge would already be impossible before writing the rest. With “At dawn,” the opening remains available; you still need to check each whole sentence.

An original example for this workshop: “At dawn, a cup fell. At dawn, a ribbon rose. At dawn, Ruby sat.” These openings repeat, but this draft still contains the forbidden letter in the following words. The opening alone cannot validate the full passage. Try this checked version instead: “At dawn, a cup slid. At dawn, a ribbon hung. At dawn, Ruby sat.” Formal conformity does not give it a literary score. Ask why these actions belong together in your text.

The Alloprof anaphora lesson describes repeated openings; a lipogram excludes a letter. Keep two checking passes rather than expect one verdict. The workshop without e helps with the second check, not the meaning of your lines. If the rules interfere, remove one and note your new choice. You can also compare repeated and free versions without declaring either better on principle.

Sources

• OQLF : anaphore
• Academy of American Poets : anaphora
• Alloprof : anaphore