Asyndeton (pronounced ah-sin-de-tahn) is the opposite of polysyndeton. However, it may have the same intended effect — that is placing equal emphasis on items in a list or series. Let's take a look at how Milton uses it:
Her face was vail'd, yet to my fancied sight,
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O as to embrace me she enclin'd,
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night
The poet uses both asyndeton in this poem to express love and admiration for his dead wife. "Love, sweetness, goodness" is an example of asyndeton. The poet is listing the good qualities in his beloved but deceased wife. The use of asyndeton gives the impression that the list of good qualities is neverending. It also imparts a certain rhythm to the line. The use of the conjunction in the last line effectively puts an end to teh fantasy of his dead wife coming back to meet him.
What is asyndeton?
Asyndeton is a rhetorical device that leaves out conjunctions where they are expected to occur.
Here is an example of asyndeton from Mark Twain:
Munich did seem the horriblest place, the most desolate place, the most unendurable place! — and the rooms were so small, the conveniences so meagre, and the porcelain stoves so grim, ghastly, dismal, intolerable! (Twain, Letter to W.D. Howells, 1878).
Here, Twain is emphasizing just how almost every aspect of his visit to Munich was horrible without holding back. The endless string of complaints, which are not separated by a conjunction give the impression that the annoyances in Munich were neverending.
However, expressing annoyance is not the sole function of ayndeton. In this article, we discuss the various uses and effects of this rhetorical device and provide several examples of it being used effectively.
The various uses of asyndeton
1. There are several reasons why an author would use ayndeton. Let’s take a look at six of them.
2. The omission of the conjunction is unexpected; therefore, it creates emphasis on the items listed.
3. The omission of the conjunction signifies that each of the items deserves equal emphasis.
4. The omission may also mean that each element in the list are variation of the same meaning. For example, in the Mark Twain quote, “grim,” “ghastly” and “dismal” have almost the same meaning.
5. Leaving out conjunctions may give a sense of speeding things up.
The omission of conjunctions may also lead to a pleasant rhythmic effect.
Examples of asyndeton
Asyndeton can take various forms. It can be expressed as the repetition of nouns and noun phrases, modifiers, verbs and combinations, independent clauses, and invective. It can also be used in association with other devices.
Here, we provide a few examples of asyndeton being used effectively. For a fuller and more comprehensive treatment, please consult Farnsworth (2010), which is listed in the references at the bottom of this page.
Churchill, London radio broadcast (1940):
We seek to beat the life and soul out of Hitler and Hitlerism. That alone, that all the time, that to the end.
Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838):
Of a sudden, and all at once, there came wafted over the ocean from the strange vessel (which was now close upon us) a smell, a stench, such as the whole world has no name for—no conception of—hellish—utterly suffocating—insufferable, inconceivable.
Burke, Speech on Moving His Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies (1775):
It is the spirit of the English Constitution, which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest member.
Asyndeton used in conjunction with other devices
Asyndeton can also be used in conjunction with devices such as anaphora, epistrophe, or isocolon.
Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart (1843):
Oh God! What could I do? I foamed – I raved – I swore!
The above quote from Poe is an example of both isocolon and anaphora. An element (I) is repeated at the beginning of each phrase separated by an em dash, which is ahora, and each utterance has a similar parallel structure as is defined in isocolon.
Shakespeare, Othello 1, 1:
Rouse him. Make after him, Poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen
The above quote from Shakespeare is yet another example of isocolon, but this time with epistrophe or repetition at the end (him).
Asyndeon used with clauses can have an extravagant effect. Here is an example from Virginia Woolfe
Woolf, A Sketch of the Past (1939):
Oak apples, ferns with clusters of seeds on their backs, the regatta, Charlie Pearce, the click of the garden gate, the ants swarming on the hot front door step; buying tintacks; sailing; the smell of Halestown Bog; splits with Cornish cream for tea in the farm house at Trevail; the floor of the sea changing colour at lessons; old Mr Wolstenholme in his beehive chair; the spotted elm leaves on the lawn; the rooks cawing as they passed over the house in the early morning; the escallonia leaves showing their grey undersides; the arc in the air, like the pip of an orange, when the powder magazine at Hayle blew up; the boom of the buoy—those for some reason come uppermost at the moment in my mind thinking of St Ives—an incongruous miscellaneous catalogue, little corks that mark a sunken net.
The writer is trying to conjure up feelings of nostalgia by describing a childhood home and uses a long string of descriptions, images, and memories in association with that home, Talland House. Some may see it as excessive. However, Woolf is trying to evoke the nature of memory and nostalgia, which is often not ordered or linear. And in that regard, she achieves her intended effect.
References
Farnsworth, W. (2010). Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric. David R. Godine.
Cite this EminentEdit Article |
Antoine, M. (2024, October 08). Asyndeton. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/asyndeton |
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