POLYSINDETON: definition and examples

The rhetoric uses a multitude of resources in order to create effects and emphasize The texts. We can find many different types that have different functionalities in different areas of literature. In this case, in this lesson from a TEACHER we want to show you one of them, the polysyndeton with its definition and examples so you can know and identify them when you find them in a text, whatever the type.

The polysyndeton It is included within the literary figures of speech. It is therefore a resource used by writers to establish a series of functionalities to their texts. It is widely used in poetry, although some examples can also be found in prose.

Its main characteristic consists of the repetitive and unnecessary use of a conjunctionwith the sole objective of contributing more strength and emphasis to a specific text. In other words, conjunctions are necessary to be able to join different words or sentences and thus endow them with concrete meaning, but the polysyndeton will make a excessive use

from the same. That is to say, to express an idea and give it a better package, you will use many more conjunctions than are usually used to express an idea.

This figure of speech is also known as conjunction, synthesis, or dithology. Usually these conjunctions they usually appear before each word in a sentence or text in which said figure is used. This use is intended to reinforce expressiveness of the words and their emphasis.

On the other hand, they also have the function of slow down the reading rate so that the words have a greater intensity in terms of their expression and cause different effects on the reader of them. Thus, we could say that the texts in which the polysyndeton is used show a feeling of greater gravity, calm or solemnity for the reader. For this reason and as the reading rate slows down, the use of this figure can be very risky.

The risk is that a monotony in writing that makes the reader soon tire of reading. For this reason, it is not a widely used figure in literature and only some authors use it in their poetry and prose texts.

We can only find it in very marked cases and taking into account the needs of the text and the intention of the author. That is, it is used when there is a need or intention to highlight a particular thought or emotion, giving any text a poetic character.

Finally, it is important to note that it is a figure that is opposed to asyndeton. This, for its part, is defined by the absence of conjunctions or links between the different parts of the text or of the sentence.

Next we are going to see a series of examples of polysyndeton so you can understand how they work and recognize them more easily. Pay attention to this poem by Francisco de Quevedo:

I am a was Y a will be Y one is tired.

In today Y morning Y yesterday together

diapers Y shroud Y I have stayed

present deceased estates ...

As you can see the conjunction and it is repeated over and over again to give emphasis to each of the verses of which the poem is composed. This repetition is unnecessary as they have the goal of slow down the pace of the text and emphasize in each of the qualities that are expressed in the text.

On his part, Juan Ramón Jiménez used the polysyndeton in this way in one of his poems:

There is a palace Y a river Y

a lake Y an old bridge,

Y fountains with moss Y Herb

high Y be quiet... a silence.

Another example we see in these verses of Oleanders from the poet Antonio Machado:

[…] It is a flower that is born in unknown lands

So what not it has a scent, neither shape, neither Colour.

Another example of Federico García Lorca in these verses of the poem If my hands could strip:

Y the branches sleep

of the hidden fronds.

Y I feel hollow

of passion Y of music.

Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, for his part, used it in this way:

¡Y women, Y children, Y old, Y the sick will cry out into the fire, Y you will sing Y me too, because I'll be the one to guide you!

Finally, Antonio Machado wrote like this in one of his poems using the polysyndeton:

Time licks Y gnaw Y polishes Y stain Y bites.

We hope that this lesson on polysyndeton: definition and examples has been useful for you to learn a little more about this rhetorical figure and its use in literature. We are waiting for you with more content related to the subject of Spanish Language on our website.