Polysyndetons & Asyndetons in Taming of The Shrew

by Melinda
(Ptown, Ontario, Canada)

Polysyndetons & Asyndetons in Taming of The Shrew

I need help telling the difference between a polysyndeton and an asyndeton....

the passage is from Shakespeare's play The Taming of The Shrew. 5.2 in Kate's speech:

"To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor"

and

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,"


are these polysyndetons or asyndetons??

Editor:

A syndeton is a conjunction. Polysyndeton is the use of several conjunctions in a series and asyndeton is omitting conjunctions from a series, usually as a stylistic element.

Your example is "asyndeton".

The sample with polysyndetons would read, "Thy husband is thy lord, and thy life, and thy keeper,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before you leave this page, please take a moment to use the "Click here to post comments." link at the bottom of the page to rate the proofreading and leave a comment if you wish.

Proofreading and editing pages that receive ratings and comments are moved to the top of the list.