Polysyndeton:  Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that is connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction. The most common conjunctions used with polysyndeton are and and or.

The citizens of the small town demanded a new sheriff and mayor, hoping the change would lead to the elimination of deception and fraud and corruption.

The purpose of the word and is to link two or more words, phrases, or clauses, but, importantly, and signifies that the items that are linked are equal in some way. In business, academic, or creative writing, each word or group of words connected by the and is more emphasized than it would be without the and.

The primary effect of polysyndeton is to slow readers down so they can take in all the information. Take the following example, for instance, which could be found in a recommendation letter.

 John West has excellent organizational skills and superb interpersonal skills and outstanding written communication skills.

Kolln discusses that the repetition slows the reader down because each word in the series or list is read “with a fairly equal beat” (p. 184). In this example, those organizational and interpersonal and written communication skills have the same weight or importance (grammatically speaking, because they’re parallel ideas).

Notice that, rhythmically, polysyndeton is not only an equalizer of meaning, but also an equalizer of tempo. In this case, polysyndeton creates a feeling of endless continuity or breathlessness because all of those things are happening one right after the other. We get the feeling that John West’s lists of skills could go on.

Polysyndeton can also be used effectively in speeches, as shown in the following example from

“In years gone by, there were in every community men and women who spoke the language of duty and morality and loyalty and obligation.”

Extended use of polysyndeton creates a kind of sing-song rhythm in the sentence that generates a particular kind of emotional charge and sometimes a ritual quality. While it’s rare that a writer would need to generate those effects in a business or academic document, this effect can be useful in short stories, novels, and so on.

Ernest Hemingway used polysyndeton in the following passage from “After the Storm”:

I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water.

This quotation from Hemingway juxtaposes many things: destruction, darkness, death, description of scenery, and personal actions. They all are based on each other and are thus connected and emotionally dulling as they act as a build-up of details that work together in giving the full scene in a way that marks them all as equals (meaning that nature’s destruction is as meaningful as finding a boat).