Polysyndeton


Polysyndeton comes from the Ancient Greek πολύ poly, meaning "many", and συνδετόν syndeton, meaning "bound together with". A stylistic scheme, polysyndeton is the deliberate insertion of conjunctions into a sentence for the purpose of "slow up the rhythm of the prose" so as to produce "an impressively solemn note."
In grammar, a polysyndetic coordination is a coordination in which all conjuncts are linked by coordinating conjunctions.

Examples

A passage from The Book of Genesis, 1:24-25 exemplifies the stately effect of polysyndeton:
Author Ernest Hemingway employs the conjunction "and" to convey "a flow and continuity of experience" in a passage from his short story "After the Storm":
The poet Keats used conjunctions in a verse from Endymion:

In the King James Bible

Polysyndeton is used extensively in the King James Version of the Bible, where and is used as a literal translation of the Hebrew waw-consecutive and the Ancient Greek particle. For example:
is known for using various rhetorical devices in his works, including polysyndeton.
Writers of modern times have also used the scheme:
used polysyndeton extensively throughout his ten novels, especially "and" to replace an increasing number of commas. Examples from each novel:
It can be contrasted with asyndeton, which is a coordination containing no conjunctions often manipulating the rhythm of a passage in the attempt to make a thought more memorable, and syndeton, which is a coordination with one conjunction.
Two examples of asyndeton:
An example of syndeton: