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Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton is the stylistic device of connecting sentences or phrases or syntagms or words by using connectives (mostly conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part as in:

"The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect." (Dickens)

In this passage from Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha", there is repetition both of conjunctions and prepositions.

"Should you ask me, whence these stories?

Whence these legends and traditions,

With the odours of the forest,

With the dew, and damp of meadows,

With the curling smoke of wigwams.

With the rushing of great rivers,

With their frequent repetitions,..."

The repetition of conjunctions and other means of connection makes an utterance more rhythmical; so much so that prose may even seem like verse. The conjunctions and other connectives, being generally unstressed elements, when placed before each meaningful member will cause the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables — the essential requirement of rhythm in verse. Hence one of the functions of polysyndeton is a rhythmical one.

In addition to this, polysyndeton has a disintegrating function. It generally combines homogeneous elements of thought into one whole resembling enumeration. But unlike enumeration, which integrates both homogeneous and heterogeneous elements into one whole, polysyndeton causes each member of a string of facts to stand out conspicuously. That is why we say that polysyndeton has a disintegrating function. Enumeration shows things united; polysyndeton shows them isolated.

Polysyndeton has also the function of expressing sequence, as in:

"Then Mr. Boffin... sat staringat a little bookcase of Law Practice and Law Reports, andat a window, andat an empty blue bag, and a stick of sealing-wax, andat a pen, and a box of wafers, and an apple, and a writing-pad — all very dusty — andat a number of inky smears and blots, andat an imperfectly disguised gun-case pretending to be something legal, andat an iron box labelled "Harmon Estate", until Mr. Lightwood appeared." (Dickens)

All these ands may easily be replaced by thens. But in this case too much stress would be laid on the logical aspects of the utterance, whereas and expresses both sequence and disintegration.

Note also that Dickens begins by repeating not only and, but also at. But in the middle of the utterance he drops the at, picks it up again, drops it once more and then finally picks it up and uses it with the last three items.

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