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Polysyndeton is the use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in "he ran and jumped and laughed for joy"). It is a stylistic scheme used to slow the rhythm of prose and can add an air of solemnity to a passage. In grammar, a polysyndetic coordination is a coordination in which all conjoins are linked by coordinating conjunctions (usually and, but, or or in English).
Polysyndeton is used extensively in the Bible. For example:
- And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. Genesis 7:22-24
- Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Leviticus 5:1-3
Writers of modern times have also used the scheme:
- "I said, 'Who killed him?' and he said 'I don't know who killed him, but he's dead all right,' and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights or windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was right only she was full of water." Ernest Hemingway, After the Storm
It can be compared with asyndeton and syndeton, which describe the use of zero or one coordinating conjunction, respectively.
References
Corbett, Edward P.J.. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971
See also
"Polysyndeton"