Polysyndeton
Quick answer: Polysyndeton is the deliberate repetition of conjunctions like 'and' between items in a list. Learn its effects in poetry, with examples and practical tips.
Polysyndeton is the deliberate repetition of conjunctions, usually 'and' or 'or', between every item in a series where ordinary style would use them once or not at all. 'We had bread and oil and salt and time' is polysyndeton; standard prose would write 'bread, oil, salt and time'. The Greek name means 'many bindings', which is exactly what the device does: it binds every item to the next.
Writers reach for polysyndeton when they want a list to feel heavy, endless or incantatory. Each repeated 'and' is a small breath, a step, another weight added to the load. Children telling breathless stories use it naturally, and so does the King James Bible, which is partly why the device can sound both innocent and prophetic at once.
How It Works
Every conjunction forces a tiny pause and a fresh start, so a polysyndetic list cannot be skimmed. An original example: 'And the kettle sang, and the dog circled, and the letter sat unopened, and the light went on failing.' The repeated 'and' makes each event feel separately witnessed, one after another, with no item allowed to blur into the next.
The device also mimics accumulation. Where asyndeton suggests a mind moving too fast to connect things, polysyndeton suggests a mind that cannot stop adding: one more memory, one more task, one more grief. The rhythm becomes a wave that keeps arriving.
Where You Will See It
The King James Bible is the deep source in English; Genesis moves almost entirely on 'and'. Ernest Hemingway carried that cadence into prose. In poetry, Whitman uses polysyndeton alongside his bare catalogues, and Yeats lets repeated conjunctions give his refrains their liturgical sway. Contemporary spoken word leans on it heavily, because a chain of 'and's gives a performer a built-in engine of momentum.
How to Use It in Your Own Poems
Match the device to a state of mind: obsession, abundance, exhaustion, ritual. Then decide where the chain breaks, because the first item that arrives without 'and' will detonate. A stanza of 'and, and, and' followed by a bare clause is one of the oldest reliable endings in poetry.
Beware of accidental polysyndeton born of loose drafting. Judges scoring structure and language, on Writory's panel or anywhere else, can tell a controlled chant from an unedited ramble; the difference is usually whether the repetition builds toward something.
What poets can take from this
- Use repeated conjunctions to slow a list down and give each item weight.
- Break the chain deliberately; the first unconjoined item gets huge emphasis.
- Vary the items' length so the repeated 'and' does not lull the reader.
- Try 'or' instead of 'and' for lists of dread or indecision.
- Cut the device entirely if the list has fewer than three items.
Try it yourself
Write a poem about a day of waiting in which every line of the first two stanzas begins with 'And'. In the final stanza, drop the word completely and let the silence carry the ending.
Questions
What effect does polysyndeton create?
It slows the reader, gives each listed item equal and separate weight, and builds a rhythm of accumulation. Depending on content it can feel biblical, obsessive, childlike or overwhelming.
How is polysyndeton different from anaphora?
Anaphora repeats a word or phrase at the start of successive lines or clauses; polysyndeton repeats conjunctions between items in a series. A line can use both at once, and lines beginning 'And' often do.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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