Anaphora is a rhetorical device that features the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses

Anaphora is a rhetorical device that features the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses. Anaphora works as a literary device to allow writers to convey, emphasize, and reinforce meaning. This word repetition at the beginning of each phrase in a group of sentences or clauses is a stylized technique that can be very effective in speeches, lyrics, poetry, and prose.
One of the most famous uses of anaphora is the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…” Through repetition of the phrase “it was,” Dickens reinforces to the reader that the time he is describing is a past filled with oppositions and extremes. In addition, the anaphora creates the effect for a current reader that, while reading, it is that way in the present as well. As a result, this allows the reader to engage immediately with the story.