the use of a word such as a pronoun that has the same reference as a word previously used in the same discourse. In the sentence John wrote the essay in the library but Peter did it at home, both did and it are examples of anaphora
Compare cataphora, exophoric
2. rhetoric
the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
Word origin
C16: via Latin from Greek: repetition, from anapherein, from ana- + pherein to bear