Ellipsis & Asyndeton

Ellipsis As in colloquial speech, this device consists in omission of some parts of the sentence that are easily understood from the context or situation. But, while in colloquial style this omission simply makes the speech more compact (Where is he?— In the garden), in literary descriptions it may give the construction an additional expressive or emotional colouring. Note, for example, the solemn tone of the extracts below with the predicate omitted: And on that cheek, and о 'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!(Byron) Youth is full ofpleasance, Age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare) The sea is but another sky, The sky a sea as well.... (Longfellow)

Asyndeton This is a deliberate omission of conjunctions or other connectors between parts of the sentence. It may be used in the description of a group of events connected in time: taking place simultaneously or in succession; in this case the absence of a conjunction may correspond to the meaning of the conjunction 'and': There was peace among the nations; Unmolested roved the hunters, Built the birch-canoe for sailing, Caught the fish in lake and river, Shot the deer and trapped the beaver; Unmolested worked the women, Made their sugar from the maple, Gathered wild rice in the meadows, Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. (Longfellow) Asyndeton may also express other logical connections between parts, thus corresponding to various connectors: 'There's no use in talking to him, he's perfectly idiotic!'said Alice desperately. (L. Carroll) (reason: " because") In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injuries. (Thomas Jefferson) (contradiction: "but") Youth is full ofpleasance, Age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare) (contrast: " whereas") Should a Frenchman or Englishman travel my route, their stored pictures of it would be different from mine. (Steinbeck) (condition: "If)