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Asyndeton and Polysyndeton in a Graduation Address
At Kenyon College's 2005 commencement, author David Foster Wallace delivered the address later published as "This Is Water." The speech is a useful occasion to ask how a commencement address can give advice, make an argument, and choose a rhythm that asks listeners to slow down. A graduation address is delivered within a ceremony, yet a single list can tell an audience what a speaker thinks deserves attention.
Imagine a speaker beginning with an original line: "You leave with drafts, questions, sleepless nights." The sentence offers three nouns without a conjunction. That choice is asyndeton: a list in which expected coordinating conjunctions are omitted. The commas create a terse cadence. The objects arrive quickly, almost as if the speaker is setting them on the stage one by one. A writer might choose this form when the list should feel crisp, finite, or quietly insistent.