Climax: Figure of repetition in which words or phrases or sentences are arranged in order of increasing intensity or importance, often in parallel construction; words or phrases arranged by degrees of increasing significance.

Examples

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

-- Adventures of Superman Television Series

"When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world."

-- Barack Obama, 2004 DNC Address

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

-- John 1:1-2 (KJV)

"Oh, America didn't need repeal, she needed repentance; she didn't need rum, she needed righteousness; we don't need jags, we need Jesus; we don't need more grog, we need more of God."

-- Billy Sunday, Booze, or Get On the Water Wagon

"When you have cable and can't record all your shows, you feel unhappy.

When you feel unhappy, you go to happy hour.

When you go to happy hour, you're up for anything.

When you're up for anything, you head to a Turkish bathhouse.

When you head to a Turkish bathhouse, you meet Charlie Sheen.

And when you meet Charlie Sheen, you reenact scenes from Platoon with Charlie Sheen.

Don't reenact scenes from platoon with Charlie Sheen. Get rid of cable and upgrade to DIRECTV."

-- DIRECTV Ad

"Education is very close in my heart. My father grew up in a small village in China. In those days, not many villagers could read. So my father opened a night school to teach them how to read. With his help, many people learned to write their own names; with his help, many people learned to read newspapers for the first time; with his help, many women were able to teach their children how to read."

-- Peng Liyuan, Address at a UN Global Education First Initiative

Note: Notable redoubled anaphora ("with his help, many") as well

"There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: 'For Whites Only.' We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.'"

-- Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have A Dream

"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you -- all of you on the good Earth."

-- Frank Borman, 1968 Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Message

  "Mr. Speaker, the 15th of March will now be forever a day etched in our collective memories. That quiet Friday afternoon has become our darkest of days. But for the families, it was more than that. It was the day that the simple act of prayer -- of practicing their Muslim faith and religion -- led to the loss of their loved ones' lives. Those loved ones were brothers, daughters, fathers, and children. They were New Zealanders. They are us."

-- Jacinda Ardern, First Statement to Parliament Following the Christchurch Attacks