In
literature, pathetic repetition is a special usage of
repetition, in which the desired
effect is one of
desperation or
futility. Consider the following lines of
Ovid's
Metamorphoses:
at pater infelix, nec iam pater, "Icare," dixit,
"Icare," dixit "ubi es? qua te regione requiram?
Icare" dicebat ...
Or, for you non-
Latin speakers,
But the unlucky father, now no longer a father, said, "Icarus, Icarus, where are you? Where shall I look for you? Icarus?"
Here,
Daedalus's cries of woe are
augmented by his repetition of his son's name.