Repeating Words, Retelling Stories

Often in literary texts, repetition does not only serve the purpose of re-enforcing a concept, but rather, the creation of a new meaning. This may be engendered by contrast, gradation, and ‘correction.’ This book explores examples from Homer, where repetition is intertwined with the very fabric of Early Greek Poetry, Virgil, and Ovid. An appendix dedicated to irony shows how even this rhetorical figure can be considered a special case of negative repetition. The book also provides a review of recent literature on neuro-cognitive science, attesting to how repetition is unavoidably a staple feature of any text.