Polysyndeton

Polysyndetron: Definition: A rhetorical term for a sentence style that employs many conjunctions (the opposite of asyndeton (click to see page)). Adjective: polysyndetic. Basically, a polysyndeton is a sentence that is held together by many conjunctions. This often means that a polysyndeton will seem like a run-on sentence, because of its length and repetitive qualities. This tends to put emphasis on what is being said, as it is often a very long list of things that go together,which makes the reader understand simply how much there is to say about what is being discussed in the polysyndeton. The heavy use of conjunctions seperates each part of the sentence and makes each thing mentioned seem as important as the others,

General Example: "Let the whitefolks have their money **and** power **and** segregation **and** sarcasm **and** big houses **and** schools **and** lawns like carpets, **and** books, **and** mostly--mostly--let them have their whiteness." (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969)

Example from E.B. White: "I kept remembering everything, lying in bed in the mornings- the small steamboat that had a long rounded stern like the lip of a Ubangi, **and** how quietly she ran on the moolight sails, when the older boys played their mandolins **and** the girls sang **and** we at doughnuts dipped in sugar, **and** how sweet the music was on the water in the shining night, **and** what it had felt like to think about girls then." -p 252, Once More to the Lake

Definition and General Examples From: Nordquist, By Richard. "Polysyndeton - Definition and Examples of Polysyndeton." Grammar and Composition - Homepage of About Grammar and Composition. Web. 22 Sept. 2010. .