Anastrophe Catastophe

I am not a Swiftie. (Is that even how you spell it?) However, after taking two (going on three) songwriting classes in the style of Taylor Swift, I have to admit: She is a great songwriter if you like great lyrics and a  catchy melody. 

I don’t know if she is aware of the literary devices that she uses in her lyrics, but it is intentional, not random, even if she doesn’t know their names. And I didn’t know what these literary devices were called until I took the course. 

Polyptoton is a device in which words derived from the same root are repeated in close proximity to each other. 

• We never had a shotgun shot in the dark (from “Getaway Car” by Taylor Swift)
• Who will watch the watchman?
• Takers take and that’s the truth (my lyric attempt)
• Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers

Anastrophe  is the inversion in the usual order of words in a clause or sentence.  Apparently it is the way Yoda speaks.

• The greatest teacher, failure is (Yoda in Star Wars).
• Blue is the color of the shirt he wore.
• September was the month we met.

Asyndeton is the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence for effect.

• Reduce, reuse, recycle
• Hope, joy, tears, pain; can’t go through that again (my attempt at lyrics)
• You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought,
       Sold, stolen, arriving on the nightmare
       Praying for a dream. (from “On the Pulse of Morning”)

Epizeuxis  is a literary or rhetorical device  in which a word is repeated immediately for emphasis.

• O horror, horror, horror! / Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! (from Macbeth)
• Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! (Tennyson)
• Never give in—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. (Winston Churchill)
• We are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together. (Taylor Swift)

Chiasmus is a device in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order.

• “She has all my love; my heart belongs to her.”
• “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” (John F. Kennedy)
• “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with” (Stephen Stills)
• “With my mind on my money and my money on my mind” (Snoop Dog)