A polysyndeton is a rhetorical system during which conjunctions are repeated between phrases in a sentence.

Even when that is the primary time you’ve learn the phrase polysyndeton, you’ve most certainly learn or heard well-known examples of writers repeating conjunctions. We’ll dive deeper into what polysyndeton is, why writers use it, the distinction between polysyndeton, asyndeton, and syndeton, and examples of polysyndeton in literature.

What’s polysyndeton?

Polysyndeton is the usage of repeated conjunctions between phrases or clauses in a sentence to emphasise what’s being stated. The phrase polysyndeton, pronounced poly-syn-de-ton, comes from the Historical Greek phrase polysyndetos, which implies “certain collectively.”

Writers use polysyndeton to emphasise phrases or phrases; for instance, take this well-known polysyndeton:

“Neither snow nor rain nor warmth nor gloom of evening stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

—US Postal Service motto

The repetition of the conjunction nor forces the speaker or reader to sluggish their rhythm and emphasizes the climate components postal carriers endure whereas on the job.

Let’s learn it with out the repeated conjunctions:

“Neither snow, rain, warmth, nor gloom of evening stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

The unique sentence is extra emphatic than the second instance, whose quicker rhythm provides you much less time to absorb the severity of the situations. Its polysyndeton is among the explanation why individuals bear in mind the phrase greater than 100 years after it was inscribed on the facade of a New York postal workplace.

As a result of it provides emphasis, polysyndeton must be used sparingly in your writing. The system might lose its impact if overused.

Different polysyndeton makes use of

Polysyndeton will also be used to convey emotions of nervousness or nervousness by overloading the reader with quick bits of knowledge. Right here’s an instance from “After the Storm,” a brief story by Ernest Hemingway.

“I stated, ‘Who killed him?’ and he stated ‘I don’t know who killed him, however he’s useless all proper,’ and it was darkish and there was water standing on the street and no lights or home windows broke and boats all up within the city and bushes blown down and every little thing all blown and I obtained a skiff and went out and located my boat the place I had her inside Mango Key and he or she was proper solely she was stuffed with water.”

The short bursts of and permit Hemingway to convey the chaos the characters are experiencing.

It’s also possible to use polysyndeton to create a extra childlike voice. Consider your two-year-old cousin who talks like this:

“After which we went to the park, after which we obtained ice cream, after which we ate the ice cream, after which . . .”

Polysyndeton vs. asyndeton vs. syndeton

Polysyndeton isn’t the one literary system that bends the writing guidelines in terms of conjunctions.

An asyndeton omits conjunctions to alter a sentence’s tone by rushing up a speaker’s or author’s phrases. Like polysyndeton, asyndeton could also be used to emphasise what’s being stated.

Instance: “Consciousness of place got here ebbing again to him slowly over an unlimited tract of time unlit, unfelt, unlived.”

—James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Younger Man

Asyndeton is finest deployed to emphasise a sentence; use polysyndeton to emphasise the person phrases or phrases linked by the conjunctions.

A syndeton is a phrase certain collectively by a conjunction, and the impact is to make a sentence or phrase direct and clear.

Instance: “I don’t like inexperienced eggs and ham.”

—Dr. Seuss, Inexperienced Eggs and Ham

A sentence will be written as a polysyndeton, an asyndeton, or a syndeton relying on the author’s intention. We’ll write the identical sentence three alternative ways to see the way it modifications the tone and rhythm.

Cut back, reuse, and recycle.

This can be a syndeton, and it’s very direct and reads like a listing or set of instructions.

Cut back, reuse, recycle.

That is an asyndeton, and its conciseness makes it simpler for individuals to recollect.

Cut back, and reuse, and recycle.

This can be a polysyndeton, and the slower rhythm emphasizes the significance of every phrase.

Whereas every sentence is grammatically appropriate, the tone modifications relying on whether or not it’s written as a syndeton, an asyndeton, or a polysyndeton.

5 examples of polysyndeton in literature

“Let the whitefolks have their cash and energy and segregation and sarcasm and massive homes and faculties and lawns like carpets, and books, and principally—principally—allow them to have their whiteness.”

—Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Chook Sings

“If there be cords, or knives, or poison, or fireplace, or suffocating streams, I’ll not endure it.”

—William Shakespeare, Othello

“And God stated, Let the earth convey forth the residing creature after his variety, cattle, and creeping factor, and beast of the earth after his variety: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his variety, and cattle after their variety, and every little thing that creepeth upon the earth after his variety: and God noticed that it was good.”

—Genesis 1:24–25 (AV)

“There have been frowzy fields, and cow-houses, and dunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, and gardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beating grounds, on the very door of the Railway. Little tumuli of oyster shells within the oyster season, and of lobster shells within the lobster season, and of damaged crockery and pale cabbage leaves in all seasons, encroached upon its excessive locations.”

—Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son

“Oh, my piglets, we’re the origins of warfare—not historical past’s forces, nor the occasions, nor justice, nor the dearth of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor concepts, nor sorts of presidency—not every other factor. We’re the killers.”

—The Lion in Winter (movie)

Polysyndeton FAQs

What’s polysyndeton?

A polysyndeton is the repeated use of conjunctions to emphasise a set of phrases, phrases, or sentences.

How does polysyndeton work?

A polysyndeton works by forcing the reader or speaker to sluggish their rhythm, which provides equal emphasis to the phrases or phrases linked by the repeated conjunctions.

How does polysyndeton differ from asyndeton?

A polysyndeton repeats conjunctions, whereas an asyndeton omits conjunctions altogether.