Repetition Examples and Activities
Let’s learn about repetition with examples and printable activities!
What is repetition?
Repetition is an important part of poetry. When lines and words are repeated, it can tell us a great deal about a poet’s intended effect or message.
In speeches, stories, music lyrics and poems, repeated lines can emphasize a message or mood. It is important to pay careful attention to the details that appear frequently in a specific text.
Examples
Repetition can allow readers and writers to connect with ideas of importance. As we create and analyze poetry, noting repeated lines is a good way to better understand the intended effect of a poem.
Poems are meant to make us feel something, so when words and lines appear again and again, we can better connect with the author’s purpose. Let’s review what repetition looks like in poems in some of our favorites from ReadingVine’s poetry collection.
In Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If,” he writes,
“If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.”
The repetition of the word “If” at the start of each verse in this stanza has an effect. It invites
the reader to imagine or wonder.
In Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Hunting of the Snark,” the narrator repeats the phrase “Just the
place for a Snark,” to engage the reader and make them curious. Here are the first two stanzas:
“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”
Repetition is meant to emphasize an idea or theme and it can also support a certain mood. It’s important to read a poem many times in order to see where the repetition exists.
In other poems, the repetition may be so frequent that it is practically jumping off the page. In those times, that means whatever is being repeated must be important!
Repetition in Poetry Activities
Use this Repetition Anchor Chart in your classroom or as an at-home resource for students learning about repetition in poetry!
Students will read the poem on this worksheet and answer the questions focusing on repetition.
Students will write a four line poem about an emotion and use repetition to emphasize the feeling.
Students will practice writing a poem about an emotion (happiness, nervousness, sadness, etc.) using repetition in the poem to emphasize that feeling.
Write a four-line poem about a season using repetition in the structure of each line to emphasize the rhythm and mood.
Read this poem by Jane Taylor and circle the repeating words or phrases. Then, draw a picture of what you imagine when you hear the repeating words.
This famous poem uses repetition. Read it carefully and answer the related questions focusing on repetition.
Students will read the verse from "A Tisket, a Tasket" and circle the repeating words. Then, they will write about the poem.
In this printable worksheet, students will read the sample poem and then write their own poem using repetition.
Students will practice identifying repetition in poetry by circling the repeating words in the given poem. Then, they will answer related questions.
Select from one of the given words and write a six-line poem that repeats one word at least four times. Then, explain why repetition is important to your poem's message.