Epistrophe

Epistrophe is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences, so each statement resolves onto the same note.

The survey was late. The estimate was late. The apology, when it came, was late.

The repetition sits at the end, which is the strongest position in an English sentence, so every clause drives the reader onto the same word. That is the difference from anaphora: a repeated opening builds anticipation, while a repeated ending accumulates. By the third clause, late has stopped being a description and become a verdict.

Lincoln closes the Gettysburg Address on the pattern — of the people, by the people, for the people — where the repeated ending is what gives three near-identical prepositions their weight.

It is the more useful of the two in fiction, because it is less obviously oratorical. A character can drive three sentences onto the same word without sounding as though they have taken a podium, and the word chosen will be the one the scene is really about.

Two notes. Because the repeated element takes the stress each time, choose a word that can bear repeating — an abstract noun will wear out by the second pass. And as with anaphora, three is generally the count, and the final instance should arrive with something extra attached.

Combine it with anaphora — same opening, same ending — and the figure is symploce.