Antithesis, asyndeton and polysyndeton

Antithesis is a structure consisting of two steps, the lexical meanings of which are opposite to each other. These steps may be presented by morphemes (underpaid and overworked), by antonyms (or contextual antonyms) and antonymous expressions and by completed statements or pictures semantically opposite to one another.

Ex.: Rabbit scratched his whiskers thoughtfully and pointed out that (…) some lived in trees and some lived underground. (A. Miln)

So, antithesis is based on contrast created by linguistic means, mostly by antonyms. If it’s used to describe the same object or concept, it reveals its contradictory nature. If applied to different objects or concepts, antithesis brings out the antagonistic features deliberately contrasted for effect. Ex.: The room was so small and this exhibit so large, that I had got a feeling of wanting the air.

She was sour, but she liked sweet things.

Sometimes antithesis doesn’t convey an idea of contrast, it makes the utterance emphatic due to the clash between the form and the meaning. Ex.: Derrick hadn’t chosen me for my emotional depth, or even for my intellectual great size.

I could see her applauding success. I could not so easily see her pitying and sympathizing with failure.

Antithesis is considered as another case of parallel constructions. But unlike parallelism, which is indifferent to the semantics of its components, the two parts of an antithesis must be semantically opposite to each other. Ex.: "Some people have much to live on, and little to live for" (O.Wilde), where "much" and "little" present a pair of antonyms, supported by the contextual opposition of postpositions "on" and "for".

The main function of antithesis is to stress the heterogeneity of the described phenomenon, to show that the latter is a dialectical unity of two (or more) opposing features.

In order to characterize a thing or phenomenon from a specific point of view, it may be necessary not to find points of resemblance or association between it and some other thing or phenomenon, but to find points of sharp contrast, that is, to set one against the other. A line of demarcation must be drawn between logical opposition and stylistic opposition. Any opposition will be based on the contrasting features of two objects. These contrasting features are represented in pairs of words which we call antonyms, provided that all the properties of the two objects in question may be set one against another, as 'saint' —'devil', 'reign'—'serve', 'hell'—'heaven'. Many word-combinations are built up by means of contrasting pairs, as up and down, inside and out, from top to bottom and the like. Stylistic opposition, which is given a special name, the term antithesis, is of a different linguistic nature: it is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the expansion of the literary contrasting pairs, as in: "Youth is lovely, age is lonely, Youth is fiery, age is frosty;" (Longfellow). Here the objectively contrasted pair is 'youth' and 'age'. 'Lovely' and ‘lonely' cannot be regarded as objectively opposite concepts, but being drawn into the scheme contrasting 'youth' and 'age', they display certain features which may be counted as antonymical. This is strengthened also by the next line where not only 'youth' and 'age' but also 'fiery' and 'frosty' are objective antonyms. It is not only the semantic aspect which explains the linguistic nature of antithesis, the structural pattern also plays an important role.

Antithesis is generally moulded in parallel construction. The antagonistic features of the two objects or phenomena are more easily perceived when they stand out in similar structures. Antithesis has the following basic functions: rhythm-forming (because of the parallel arrangement on which it is founded); copulative; dissevering; comparative. These functions often go together and inter-mingle in their own peculiar manner. But as a rule antithesis displays one of the functions more clearly than the others. This particular function will then be the leading one in the given utterance.

Asyndeton (absence of conjunctions) is the deliberate omission of conjunction for special effect in enumeration. The omission of conjunction and before the last word changes the rhythm of the sentence and gives more independence to every word in line. Asyndeton is used as an expressive means when two parts of sentence are joined without any conjunction. It gives energetic effect to the statement, the conjunction is supplied by the reader who is active in interpreting the massage. Asyndeton is also emphatic and deliberate when a sentence contradicting the previous statement is added to it without any warning given by the conjunction but.

Eg: He was a full and a hypocrite. (but)I never met a more agreeable companion. (but is omitted)

Students would have no need “to walk the hospitals” if they had me. I was a hospital in myself. (because is omitted)

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, (and) oppose any enemy to assure the survival and successes of liberty.

The stylistic function of asyndeton is realized in brevity, acceleration of the tempo, colloquial character.

Polysyndeton is the repetition of conjunctions or prepositions or particles to connect words, clauses or sentences, it adds the rhythm to the utterance, slows down the statement and makes every word stand out more emphatically due to longer pauses between the words or sentences.

Ex.: Yes, he was wise and good and tricky and smart.

Another type of connection is the use of coordination instead of subordination with coordinative conjunction and standing for temporal pause and effect and other relations known as subordination.

Ex: The Mr. X set down steering at a little bookcase and at a window and at an empty blue bag and at a pen, and at a book sweets.

The conjunction and is extremely often used in colloquial speech, where it is not a stylistic device but mere tautology caused by the poverty of the speaker’s vocabulary.

The function of polysyndeton is to strengthen the idea of equal logical (emotive) importance of connected sentences,

Both polysyndeton and asyndeton, have a strong rhythmic impact.