These qualities are particularly important in speeches, because the audience must be made to understand and remember complex ideas without the ability to "rewind" or parse a phrase for its meaning.
Sojourner Truth uses refrain in her famous speech "Ain't I a Woman? Her refrain —which later became the name by which her untitled speech is known—is a rhetorical question , repeated to make the point that women are just as capable as men.
Below is an excerpt:. That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!
And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well! I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me!
By alternating this rhetorical question with evidence of her equality to men, Sojourner Truth uses refrain in order to make her point seem obvious; each time the question is repeated, the notion of contradicting her seems more and more silly. By the end of the paragraph—once "And ain't I a woman? And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
King uses this refrain for many reasons, but among the most important is that the repetition of "I have a dream" creates a rhythm that makes the statement begin to feel inevitable. This is powerful rhetorical momentum in a speech about progress and equality, and it seems to suggest that King's dream is destined to prevail, just as the phrase is destined to recur.
The phrase "Yes we can" has been a longtime motto of Obama's, and while it appears in many of his speeches, he used it most iconically as a refrain in his speech after winning the election.
In the excerpt below, Obama repeatedly references Ann Nixon Cooper, a year old black woman from Atlanta who couldn't vote when she was younger because of her gender and race:.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America—the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. When the bombs fell on our harbour and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that 'We Shall Overcome'. Obama's refrain serves many purposes: it makes a rhetorical point, it uplifts the audience, and it unifies historical events into a narrative of progress.
Perhaps most important, though, the refrain makes the audience feel that they are a part of Obama's victory. As you watch the video of the speech here , notice that the repetition of "Yes we can" invites the audience to participate by repeating the line after he does.
Obama never explicitly tells the audience that they may do this—it's the very structure of the refrain that stirs the audience into participation, which speaks to the rhetorical power of the refrain.
The refrain is a versatile literary device that takes many forms and has many purposes. Writers, musicians, and orators use refrains in songs, speeches, and poems in order to drive a point home, aid a reader or listener's memory, establish central themes, and create structure. Repeated words or phrases stick more easily in a reader or listener's mind and accentuate the structure and rhythm of what's being said—a repeated line like "I have a dream," for example, establishes the central theme of change and progress, and creates a rhythm within which progress feels as inevitable as the speech's structure.
Sometimes refrains are used simply to condense and repeat the central subject of a poem or song, as in Henley's "Ballade of Midsummer Days and Nights" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time," both excerpted above. Refrains can also organize the content of a speech, song, or poem by providing a memorable rhetorical framework.
This is particularly useful in poems or songs that move quickly and wildly between divergent images and ideas, as in Ginsberg's poem "Howl. Refrain Definition. Refrain Examples. Refrain Function. Refrain Resources. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
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Struggling with distance learning? Before poetry was printed, it was performed—often sung. Repeating words or lines at regular intervals helped poets memorize their work, as well as help another performer learn it. This built-in memorization technique is why poetry that predates the printed word has been able to endure. Refrains are still prevalent, especially in popular music, because of their ability to create a sense of connection. This literary device can connect a reader or listener to the rhythm of the piece because it stands out.
Audiences are more apt to learn a repeated group of words because it will more than likely to stick in their minds. This recognition makes readers and listeners more likely to revisit the piece.
The refrain is not the only literary device that employs repetition—for example, alliteration makes use of repeated sounds. The following literary elements and devices make use of repeated words for various effects. As mentioned, refrains often appear in songs. Song refrains can also exist independently of the chorus. This song can be considered to have both a refrain and a chorus. This song makes use of multiple refrains. The lyrics of the chorus express that the narrator misses this person but, more so, they can always count on her no matter what.
The narrator of this song is listing qualities that do not matter for a potential mate e. In the chorus, he expresses, what he is looking for:. The narrator of this surreal poem entreats dead fish to speak, to greet what accompanies it on the plate and tell its story. In this brief poem, the narrator observes an elderly woman eating plums. It is used in the second and sixth line of every stanza:. This villanelle generator can provide an example of how the form works by incorporating user-generated words.
Here's a quick and simple definition: In a poem or song, a refrain is a line or group of lines that regularly repeat, usually at the end of a stanza in a poem or at the end of a verse in a song. In a speech or other prose writing, a refrain can refer to any phrase that repeats a number of times within the text.
When a line is repeated in a poem, it's a technique called refrain. Some poems have a regular refrain whereby a line is repeated at the end of each stanza. Refrains contribute to the rhythm and beauty of a poem. Examples of Repetition: Let it snow, let it snow , let it snow.
In grammatical terms, a tautology is when you use different words to repeat the same idea. Here's a quick and simple definition: Anaphora is a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.
Kids Definition of simile : a figure of speech comparing two unlike things using like or as "Their cheeks are like roses" is a simile. A metaphor is like a simile, but without connecting words. Implied metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that aren't alike but do have something in common.
Unlike a simile , where two things are compared directly using like or as, a metaphor's comparison is more indirect, usually made by stating something is something else. The refrains, because they were repeated over and over , became easier for listeners to remember.
A phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem , especially at the end of a stanza. Rhyme, also spelled rime, the correspondence of two or more words with similar-sounding final syllables placed so as to echo one another. Rhyme is used by poets and occasionally by prose writers to produce sounds appealing to the reader's senses and to unify and establish a poem's stanzaic form. Why do authors use refrains?
Asked by: Green Ankunding. Refrain sentence example. You must refrain from action. What is the effect of a refrain? How do you call a figurative language that compares two unlike things?
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