JUMP TO THE ANAPHORA EXAMPLES (updated September 2026)
Anaphora in poetry — repeating the same word or phrase at the start of each line — is one of my most used (and most successful) generative writing exercises. As Rebecca Hazelton says in Adventures in Anaphora, “Students write more creatively when they repeat themselves,” and I find that to be true for myself, as well.
But anaphora isn’t just for getting started on a blank page or in a writing journal: It also works in finished poems.
Without a doubt, part of my affection for anaphora in poetry is its sisterhood with the list poem. Anaphora does result in a kind of list, and I love seeing how poets use it to create momentum and play with language.
In Literary Devices: Exploring Anaphora Through the Poetry of Walt Whitman (Writer’s Digest), Aaron Bauer writes, “This literary device, which appears in biblical verses as well as the works of Walt Whitman, can be used to build up tension or energy in rhetoric, poetry and prose.”
Poets.org puts it this way: “Not only can anaphora create a driving rhythm by the recurrence of the same sound, it can also intensify the emotion of the poem.” In my experience, that intensity builds as the poet surprises us line after line not only with stunning variation after stunning variation but also, at times, by interrupting the pattern, varying where it appears on the line or abandoning the anaphora altogether to take us deeper.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s Bauer again: “What anaphora does to the reader is get them used to a certain refrain and structure in a sentence so that we begin to anticipate it. Then, when the writer breaks the pattern, the reader is surprised and begins to pay more attention to what comes next.”
So let’s get to it! I’m excited to share some of my favorite examples of anaphora in poetry (sorted alphabetically by poet’s last name). 👇
40+ examples of anaphora in poetry
- “My Heart” by Kim Addonizio
- “The Matter” by Kim Addonizio
- “I’m Dancing in a Frock” by Kelli Russell Agodon
- “Resistance” by Traci Brimhall
- “To Reduce Your Likelihood of Seduction by the Boto” by Traci Brimhall (scroll to the 2nd poem on the page)
- “For everyone who tried on the slipper before Cinderella” by Ariana Brown
- “Anthropocene” by DeeSoul Carson
- “Before” by DeeSoul Carson
- “Epistemology” by DeeSoul Carson
- “The School of Song” by Chen Chen
- “evidence for the necessity of my removal by child protective services” by Aliyah Cotton
- “Doll Procession” by Barbara Daniels
- “Love” by Alex Dimitrov
- “Dear Tiara” by Sean Thomas Dougherty
- “Say This” By Lynne Ellis
- “The Iguanas Skitter Through the Cemetery by the Sea” by Martín Espada
- “The Moth” by Sofia Fall
- “The world is a beautiful place” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- “Tired Parent Wanting Poem” by Sherine Gilmour
- “You Are Who I Love” by Aracelis Girmay
- “Yes” by Rachel Greenberg
- “eat the alligator left for dead in the prospect park lake” by Jean Marie Hackett
- “Catalog of Happiness” by Nathalie Handal
- “Hibernacula Parable” by Leslie Harrison
- “Wandering Heart Parable” by Leslie Harrison
- “Let Them Not Say” by Jane Hirshfield
- “Take Me in Your Tender Arms, Roll Me in the Dirt” by Gabrielle Grace Hogan
- “For E, Who Asks Me How I Loved So Many Before Her” by Rochelle Hurt
- “Let Me Begin Again” by Major Jackson
- “Resolution #1,003” by June Jordan
- “Abracadabra” by Mia Kang
- “National Anthem” by Christopher Kempf
- “To This I Come” by Erin Marie Lynch
- “Why I Miss my Father” by Amy Lyons
- “Anaphora That Has Lost Its Penultimate Couplet” by Tara Mesalik MacMahon
- “Reading Room” by Hannah M. Matzecki
- “Having Given Up” by Jeff Oaks
- “Your Nights” by Sergio A. Ortiz
- “The Howwolf” by Catherine Pierce
- “Innermost” by Shirley Stephenson
- “getting through” by Laura Van Prooyen
- “My Daughter is Drawn to Blue Flax” by Martha Silano
- “Soulwork” by Tracy K. Smith
- “The Rough Beast Receives an Invitation from America” by Alexandra Teague
- “God Is God and the Universe Is the Universe” by Leah Umansky
- “23 Reasons Why Mexicanos Can Still Be Found in a Walmart” by Alessandra Narváez Varela
- “Reflection” by Donna Vorreyer
- “Perfect Relationships” by Rodd Whelpley
I’m happy to continue adding to this collection of poems that use anaphora. Got a fave that I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll take a look. Also, be sure to check out other popular lists published at this blog:
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