Writing 201: Poetry
Assignment — Day 9:

Prompt: COLD
Form: Concrete
Device: Anaphora/Epistrophe (Epiphora)

Generally speaking, any poem that’s typographically arranged to represent a specific shape (recognizable or not) is a concrete, or “shape” poem.

An anaphora (Greek: ἀναφορά, “carrying back”) is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis. In contrast, an epistrophe (or epiphora) is repeating words at the clauses’ ends. The combination of anaphora and epistrophe results in symploce.


I always have fun with concrete poetry, although it isn’t easy to post.