Polysyndeton is a rhetorical device that uses more conjunctions than necessary, often between each item in a list. It can speed up or slow down the tempo of a phrase and is commonly used in both prose and poetry. The King James Version of the Bible is notable for its frequent use of polysyndeton, which can lend an air of religiosity to a text.
Polysyndeton is a rhetorical device in which a passage uses more conjunctions than grammatically required, typically between each element in a series rather than before only the last element. For example, the sentence “We saw pythons and cobras and mambas and boas” contains three conjunctions instead of inserting commas between the first three items in the list. The opposite of this rhetorical device is asyndeton, in which the last element of a series has no conjunction, such as “We have seen pythons, cobras, mambas, boas.” The most common conjunctions in English are “and”, “or”, “nor”, “but” and “so”. Polysyndeton can be employed to great effect in a wide variety of rhetorical contexts, making it a commonly used figure of speech in both prose and poetry.
The word “polisindeton” comes from the Greek poly, which means “many”, and sydetos, which means “bound together”. The use of polysyndeton often speeds up or slows down the tempo of a phrase. Added conjunctions can speed up the flow of the sentence by adding a measure of excitement or spontaneity, as if it were being spoken by someone who hasn’t yet planned how many items there would be on the list. On the other hand, especially when used with commas, the polysyndeton can give a sense of fatigue to a sentence, such as “While I was working on my degree thesis, I ate, and wrote, and slept, and ate, and wrote, and slept , and that’s all I did.”
The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, published in 1611, is notable for its frequent use of polysyndeton. Of the 31 verses of Genesis 1, for example, 29 begin with “and” and one begins with “so.” The word “and” occurs 98 times out of 797 words in the chapter, or about one in eight words.
This usage closely matches the Hebrew from which the Old Testament was translated. The Hebrew waw, typically translated “and” in the KJV, serves not only as a coordinating conjunction, but also serves as a transitional word at the beginning of sentences or even books. Many recent English translations of the Bible either omit many instances of waw or substitute a different transitional word or phrase.
Polysyndeton, due to its association with the Bible, can also lend an air of religiosity to a text. An example of this can be found in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which parodies the use of polysyndeton in the King James version. A cleric is called upon to read from the fictional book of armaments, from which he reads a long polysedetic list of foods, which prompts another character to interrupt the cleric and tell him to skip the rest of the list for the sake of time.
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