Asyndeton Definition and Examples

Asyndeton Definition and Examples Asyndeton is aâ rhetorical term for a composing style that discards conjunctions between words, expressions, or provisos. Descriptor: asyndetic. Something contrary to asyndeton isâ polysyndeton. As indicated by Edward Corbett and Robert Connors, The chief impact of asyndeton is to create a rushed cadence in the sentence (Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 1999). In his investigation of Shakespeares style, Russ McDonald contends that the figure of asyndeton works by methods for juxtaposition as opposed to coupling, in this way denying the reviewer of clear intelligent relations (Shakespeares Late Style, 2010). Models and Observations He was a bean pole, a floppy doll, a messed up stick, a maniac.(Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)Joona strolls through the Christmas showcase in Bollns Square. Flames are consuming, ponies are grunting, chestnuts are broiling. Kids race through a stone labyrinth, others drink hot chocolate.(Lars Kepler, The Hypnotist. Trans. by Ann Long. Picador, 2011)Speed up the film, Montag, fast. Snap, Pic, Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Blast! Smack! Clobber, Bing, Bong, Boom!(Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, 1953)She was youthful, she was unadulterated, she was new, she was nice,She was reasonable, she was sweet seventeen.He was old, he was abominable, and no outsider to vice,He was base, he was terrible, he was mean.He had guilefully inveigled her up to his flatTo see his assortment of stamps.(Flanders and Swann, Have Some Madeira, MDear)Why, theyve got ten volumes on self destruction alone. Self destruction by race, by shadi ng, by occupation, by sex, via periods of the year, by time of day. Self destruction, how dedicated: by harms, by guns, by suffocating, by jumps. Self destruction by poison, partitioned by kinds of toxin, for example, destructive, aggravation, foundational, vaporous, opiate, alkaloid, protein, etc. Self destruction by jumps, partitioned by jumps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of ponies, from steamships. In any case, Mr. Norton, of the considerable number of cases on record, theres not one single instance of self destruction by jump from the backside of a moving train.(Edward G. Robinson as protection specialist Barton Keyes in Double Indemnity, 1944) It is a northern nation; they have chilly climate, they have cold hearts.Cold; whirlwind; wild brutes in the timberland. It is a hard life. Their homes are worked of logs, dim and smoky inside. There will be an unrefined symbol of the virgin behind a guttering light, the leg of a pig hung up to fix, a string of drying mushrooms. A bed, a stool, a table. Cruel, brief, poor lives.(Angela Carter, The Werewolf. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, 1979)I have discovered the warm collapses the woods,filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,closets, silks, countless goods(Anne Sexton, Her Kind)In a few different ways, he was this town at its beststrong, hard-driving, working hotly, pushing, building, driven by desire so large they appeared Texas-boastful.(Mike Royko, A Tribute)Anyway, similar to I was stating, shrimp is the product of the ocean. You can grill it, bubble it, cook it, heat it, saute it. Deys uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Seared, pan fried, sautéed. Th eres pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp plate of mixed greens, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. Thatthats about it.(Bubba in Forrest Gump, 1994) Mist all over. Haze up the stream, where it streams among green aits and knolls; haze down the waterway, where it rolls revered among the levels of delivery and the waterside contaminations of an extraordinary (and grimy) city. Haze on the Essex swamps, haze on the Kentish statures. Haze crawling into the rears of collier-brigs; haze lying out on the yards and floating in the apparatus of extraordinary boats; mist hanging on the gunwales of scows and little pontoons. Haze in the eyes and throats of old Greenwich retired people, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; haze in the stem and bowl of the evening funnel of the furious captain, down in his nearby lodge; mist pitilessly squeezing the toes and fingers of his shuddering little prentice kid at hand. Chance individuals on the extensions peeping over the parapets into an under sky of haze, with haze surrounding them, as though they were up in an inflatable and hanging in the dim clouds.(Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1852-1853) Elements of Asyndeton When [asyndeton] is utilized in a progression of words, expressions, or statements, it recommends the arrangement is by one way or another fragmented, that there is more the author could have included (Rice 217). To put it to some degree in an unexpected way: in a customary arrangement, authors place an and before the last thing. That and signals the finish of the arrangement: Here it is folksthe last thing. Preclude that combination and you make the feeling that the arrangement could proceed. . . Asyndeton can likewise make unexpected juxtapositions that welcome perusers into collective associations with essayists: on the grounds that there are no unequivocal associations among expressions and statements, perusers must gracefully them to reproduce the authors expectation. . . Asyndeton can likewise stimulate the pace of exposition, particularly when it is utilized among provisos and sentences.(Chris Holcomb and M. Jimmie Killingsworth, Performing Prose: The Study and Practice of Style in Composition. SIU Press, 2010) EtymologyFrom the Greek, detached Articulation: ah-SIN-di-ton