| polysyndeton |
| Definition: A figure of speech where conjunctions that are usually omitted are kept and used in close succession. Note: The rhetorical purpose is to slow the prose's rhythm and endow it with, say, solemnity or dignity. |
| Example: He likes to use polysyndeton and asyndeton and prolepsis and paralipsis whenever he can — but he hates tmesis to pieces. |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek poly, many + syndeton, bound together with. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The term's first OED citation is from 1589: "Ye haue another maner of construction which they called Polisindeton [sic] we may call him the couple clause for that euery clause is knit and coupled together with a coniunctiue." (Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. (Arb.) 186) |