Hendiadys is a literary device that joins two nouns with “and” to create a double meaning, emphasizing the drama of a phrase. It is important to distinguish hendiadys from simple word lists. The Bible contains many examples of hendiadys, but modern authors use it sparingly.
Hendiadys is a literary device used to emphasize the meaning and drama of a phrase or sentence. Translated from the Greek, hendiadys literally means “one to two”. It’s about joining two nouns together with the conjunction and instead of just listing a noun and a descriptive adjective. Ever since the Greeks coined this phrase, authors have used this device to underscore their works with a double meaning instead of just using modifiers. Not all nouns joined by conjunctions are examples of hendiadys.
It is important, when studying the literature, to be able to separate examples of hendiadys from simple word lists. For example, when Shakespeare writes “sound and fury” in Macbeth, this sentence could be rewritten to become “furious sound”. One of the words in these sentences can always be turned into a modifier, and this is an easy way to identify them. “Vigor and verve” instead of “vigorous verve” and “nice and warm” instead of “ben caldo” are two well-known examples of this device.
The phrase “cheese and crackers” is not an example of this device because neither ‘cheese’ nor ‘crackers’ can be made into a modifier. One could say “cheese crackers,” but that paints a picture of cheese crackers while “cheese and crackers” brings to mind a picture of crackers topped with slices of cheese. When using the hendiadys, the joint sentence and the modified sentence could mean the same thing. In the example above, “sound and fury” and “furious sound” both help the reader imagine a large explosion or violent storm.
Authors who believe in concise writing may not be fans of hendiadys because it lengthens sentences that might otherwise be condensed. In modern, realistic writing, this literary device is not often used. When it is, it is often carefully placed around the climax of the work to heighten the drama of the moment. Separating a modifier phrase into two separate nouns seems to split the meaning of the phrase, giving it twice the power. While authors in centuries past sometimes used this device with abandon, many modern authors avoid it unless the situation calls for something truly dramatic.
The Bible contains hundreds of cases of hendiadys, most of which push prose forward and imbue it with semantic meaning. For example, the verse “For thine is the kingdom and power and glory” actually creates a sentence with two possible modifiers. The phrase could become “Your glorious and mighty kingdom” or “Your glorious and mighty kingdom.” This example of extended hendiadys is relatively rare, usually the sentence only includes two nouns.
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