An anaphora is a type of literary device. That means it is a technique used in writing (in this case, mostly poems rather than stories) to achieve some sort of effect. The most important thing to know about anaphora is that they are used to emphasize a certain point. You can hear it used in songs, but a lot of the uses come from a variety of poems.
Take some of the following examples:
“I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King
Dr. King uses the phrase “I have a dream” eight times throughout the entirety of his speech because he wants to emphasize that what he is talking about is something he strongly believes in, but sadly is not yet true.
William Blake, in the poem London
In this poem, the famous poet William Blake uses the phrase “in every” four times in a row to emphasize that he is talking about all the different things there are in the world. He is trying to draw attention to the abundance that he sees in the world.
The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln
During the American Civil War in the 1860s, the President, Abraham Lincoln, gave a speech (The Gettysburg Address) that was meant to free slaves in the southern states. In the end of the speech, he used the phrase “we cannot” three times in a row to emphasize things that he is trying to fight against.
Note that, when you use an anaphora, it can be either a single word (what… at the beginning of a question, for example) or a long phrase (such as the full sentence “I have a dream” from Dr. King’s speech). As long as it is used several times and is meant to emphasize a certain point, it is known as an anaphora.
