Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton is the deliberate repetition of a conjunction between every item in a series, where ordinary usage would place one only before the last.

There was the mud and the queue and the forms and the man behind the desk who would not look up.

An and before each item, where the ordinary sentence would use commas and save the conjunction for the end. The effect is the reverse of asyndeton: everything slows, each item is weighed separately, and the list acquires a plodding inevitability that suits endurance, tedium, or a child recounting a day.

Compare: There was the mud, the queue, the forms and the man behind the desk. Faster, tidier, and much less tired.

Polysyndeton examples

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:2, King James Bible. The translation renders the Hebrew narrative and literally, one clause after another, and this is where most English readers first absorb the rhythm. It gives the verses a sense of one event following another without end. Hemingway is the best-known modern writer to lean on the same and-heavy rhythm.

...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), on Scrooge. The repeated and makes each quality land on its own.

• We ran and laughed and fell and got up and ran again. Excitement: the sentence keeps going the way the children do.
• We can appeal or withdraw or wait or do nothing. With or, each option feels separately considered and equally poor.

How to use it

Polysyndeton is conspicuous. It reads as a choice, so it needs to be one. Use it where you want the reader to feel the weight or the length of something: a long journey, a pile of chores, a moment of overwhelming happiness. Two sentences of it in a paragraph is a voice; a page of it is a parody of one.

Frequently asked questions

What is polysyndeton?

Polysyndeton is using a conjunction, usually 'and' or 'or', between every item in a list instead of only before the last one. 'We ate and talked and laughed and stayed till midnight' is an example.

What is the effect of polysyndeton?

It slows the sentence down and gives each item its own weight. It can suggest endurance, abundance, tedium or breathless excitement, depending on what is being listed.

What is the difference between polysyndeton and asyndeton?

They are opposites. Polysyndeton adds extra conjunctions, which slows a list down. Asyndeton removes them, which speeds it up.