What is the purpose of repeated words?

Question

I came across 2 sentences that include the repeated words.

1) 流れ流れたドヤ街で へんなおやじにつきまとわれて...

2) マスコミ利用し世間からせしめた黄金百万両！　御用御用とむらがる捕り手あたるをさいわいぶったおし...

I would like to know if there is any meaning other than their literal meanings.　Or is the purpose of repeated words just emphasizing their original meaning?

Answer 1

1) This kind of repeated verbs express the action that happened repeatedly, or for a long time. The effect is not very different from how English speakers say "He ran and ran" and such. In addition, this 流れ流れた has 7 morae, and you can see this forms a good 七五調 rhythm like waka.

流れ流れた(7) - ドヤ街で(5) - へんなおやじに(7) - つきまとわれて(7) ...

2) 御用! (or 御用だ!) is a phrase which was actually shouted by policemen in the Edo period (well, at least in dramas today). So 御用 is naturally repeated, as shown in the dictionary example below:

３ 捕り手が官命で犯人を捕らえること。また、そのときのかけ声。転じて、警察につかまること。「―、―、神妙にしろ」「―になる」