asyndeton purpose and examples
Asyndeton: Purpose and Examples
Asyndeton involves excluding conjunctions in words, phrases, or sentences where they should generally be used. This Buzzle article explains its definition, and gives some asyndeton examples of in literature, politics, and history.
Fact
The name asyndeton is derived from the Greek word 'Asyndeton'. The meaning of this Greek word is something that is not connected.Asyndeton Examples in Literature
"Call up her father.
Rouse him. Make after him, Poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell, Plague him with flies:"
- William Shakespeare (Othello)
"That was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, (The Great Gatsby)
"Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,. Shrunk to this little measure?"
- William Shakespeare, (Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1)
In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace.
- Richard de Bury
"Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent,"
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, (The Scarlet Letter)
"These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old."
- William Shakespeare, (Romeo and Juliet)
"I stepped into a deserted corridor clogged with too many smells. Carnations, old people, rubbing alcohol, bathroom deodorizer, red Jell-O."
- Sue Mond Kid, (The Secret Life of Bees)
"The breath coming out the nostrils was so faint it stirred only the farthest fringes of life, a small leaf, a black feather, a single fibre of hair."
- Ray Bradbury, (Fahrenheit 451)
Piggy tries to defuse the sitch by telling Ralph to remember what they came for-the fire, the specs."
- William Golding, (Lord of the Flies)
"I checked off again in detail, his large head, his dark complexion, his deep set eyes, his bushy black eyebrows, his large watch chain, his strong black dots of beard and whisker, and even the smell of scented soap on his great hand."
- Charles Dickens, (Great Expectations)
"to die: to sleep- / To sleep, perchance to dream"
- William Shakespeare, (The Tragedy of Hamlet)
Asyndeton Examples in Speech
"With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
- Martin Luther King, (I Have a Dream)
"we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,"
- Winston Churchill
"I came, I saw, I conquered."
- Julius Caesar
Asyndeton Examples in History and Politics
"If, as is the case, we feel responsibility, are ashamed, are frightened, at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies that there is One to whom we are responsible, before whom we are ashamed, whose claims upon us we fear."
- John Henry Newman
"This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely."
- Aristotle, (Rhetoric)
"We certainly have within us the image of some person, to whom our love and veneration look, in whose smile we find our happiness, for whom we yearn, towards whom we direct our pleadings, in whose anger we are troubled and waste away."
- John Henry Newman
Asyndeton Examples in Songs
"Let me tell you something
Never have I ever
Been a size 10
In my whole life
I left the engine running"
- Rihanna, (Stupid in Love)
"There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Oh well, I've had just enough time"
While the usage of asyndeton speeds up the rhythm of the words in a sentence, it doesn't alter its meaning in any way. It merely emphasizes the significance and meaning of the sentence.- The Band Perry, (If I Die Young)