Polysyndeton: Many conjunctions

Polysyndeton: Many conjunctions

From Rhetoric by Thomas Gibbons; The Might and Mirth of Literature, by John Walker Vilant Macbeth; The Outlines of Rhetoric for Schools and Colleges, by Joseph Henry Gilmore

Polysyndeton (Greek poly, ‘many,’ + syndetos, ‘bound together’) is a figure of rhetoric in which conjunctions are repeated in close succession for the sake of emphasis:

“The African bears with him all his wealth,

And house, and household-gods, and armed force,

And trusty dog, and quiver fledg'd with darts.” -- Virgil

Greek rhetoricians used this figure often.

I. Excessive use of conjunctions

The excessive use of conjunctions serves to keep attention focused on the items enumerated. For example, Livy, describing the pleasure and luxury which corrupted and softened the army of Hannibal, says,

“For sleep, and wine, and feasts, and strumpets, and bagnios, and sloth, that through custom grows every day more bewitching, had so enervated their minds and bodies, that the reputation of their past victories protected them more than their present strength.”

 

II. Adds weight and gravity

Polysyndeton appears to be laid in the speaker's desire that every one of his weighty and important ideas may be fully comprehended; and therefore he gives time, by the reduplication of conjunctions, for the leisurely infusion of his sentiments, that they may thereby make the more forcible and lasting impression. It makes what is said to appear with an air of solemnity; and, by retarding the course of the sentence, gives the mind an opportunity to consider and reflect upon every part distinctly.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” -- St. Paul

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Asyndeton: No conjunctions

Asyndeton: No conjunctions

From English Composition and Rhetoric, by Alexander Bain;  Rhetoric by Thomas Gibbons; Practical Rhetoric, by William Edward Jelf; The Outlines of Rhetoric for Schools and Colleges, by Joseph Henry Gilmore

Asyndeton (Greek asundeton, ‘unconnected’) is a figure of rhetoric in which conjunctives are omitted for the sake of vehemence or speed:

“I came, I saw, I conquered.” -- Julius Caesar

Greek rhetoricians used this figure often.

I. Same logical and grammatical relations

Asyndeton can properly only take place when sentences, phrases, or words which are in the same logical and grammatical relations to each other, are not connected by a conjunction. By the omission of the conjunction, the successive thoughts are represented as following one another so rapidly that they are but one thought:

 And closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, they killed, they were killed.

II. Flow almost outstrips the speaker

Longinus tells us that asyndeton may create a flow of words poured out in such a manner that they almost outstrip the speaker. Some of the best examples of this may be found in the New Testament:

In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report. -- St. Paul

III. Appropriate closing effect

Aristotle (Rhetoric, B. III., ch. xix.) notes that asyndeton is appropriate to the close of one's discourse:

“I have spoken — you have heard — the case is in your hands, — pronounce your decision.” -- Demosthenes

The words above are the closing words of Demosthenes, in De Corona, and also the closing words of Aristotle's Rhetoric.

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Ellipsis: Something is missing

Ellipsis: Something is Missing

From English Composition and Rhetoric, by Alexander Bain;  English Composition by W. Davidson; Practical Rhetoric, by Albert Raub:

Ellipsis (Greek elleipsis, ‘an omission’) is a figure of both grammar and rhetoric in which some word or words in a sentence are omitted for the sake of brevity or elegance:

Either you [must go] or I must go. 

The words ‘must go’ are omitted and said to be understood or implied.

 

I. The omission is essential to the construction but not to the sense of the sentence.

The flies and the dust stuck to the paper 

as [they would have stuck] to clay.

II. Ellipsis is a suggestive figure.

What is unexpressed is left to the listener or reader to intuit.

 [it is] Impossible! [that...]

The single word ‘Impossible!’ is more expressive than a complete sentence affirming impossibility.

III. There are three types of omission.

A. Omission of a relative pronoun

This is the letter [which]  I wrote.

B. Omission of a conjunction

He came, [and] saw, [and] conquered.

C. Omission of an entire clause

[This is] Astonishing!

IV. When omitting words from a direct quote, an ellipsis is indicated by three periods.

A. Omission of a word or group of words

When one, for the sake of brevity or otherwise, omits a word, a group of words, or one or more sentences from a quotation, such omission is indicated by three periods. 

“Then I asked for a three penny loaf... He gave me, accordingly, three reat puffy rolls.” [Ben Franklin in Autobiography]

B. Omission at the end of a sentence

1. If words are omitted from the end of a sentence, the end-mark of the sentence, if an exclamation point or an interrogation-point, is retained, and follows the three periods.

“Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle...?”
[Patrick Henry, Speech in the Virginia Convention]

2. If the end-mark of the sentence is a period, and one or more sentences following are omitted, there will be four periods at this point. There will be the same number if words are omitted from the beginning of a sentence following a sentence ending with a period.

“We had not been long on the move when we saw dust rising in the road at a distance and soon perceived we were about to meet a little caravan of wagons.... My heart pounded at the thought.” [Sarah Eleanor Royce in A Frontier Lady]

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Synecdoche: The 12th Man

Synecdoche: The 12th Man

From English Composition and Rhetoric, by Alexander Bain;  English Composition by W. Davidson; Practical Rhetoric, by Albert Raub:

Synecdoche (Greek synekdoche, ‘to receive together’) is a figure which represents a part for the whole or the whole for a part, as in

The Twelfth Man (part)

for 

Seahawks’ fans (whole)

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