Definition:
A figure of speech in which a speaker or writer gathers scattered points and lists them together.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "pile up, heap"Examples:
- "A generation goes and a generation comes, yet the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and rushes back again to the place from which it rises. The wind blows south, then returns to the north, round and round goes the wind, on its rounds it circulates. All streams flow to the sea, yet the sea does not fill up."
(Ecclesiastes, The Old Testament) - "I don't know how to manage my time; he does. . . .
I don't know how to dance and he does.
I don't know how to type and he does.
I don't know how to drive. If I suggest that I should get a license too he disagrees. He says I would never manage it. I think he likes me to be dependent on him for some things.
I don't know how to sing and he does. . . ."
(Natalia Ginzburg, "He and I." The Little Virtues, 1962; trans., 1985) - "Now Senator McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I’m green behind the ears, and I’m just spouting off and he’s somber and responsible. Senator McCain--this is a guy who sang 'bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don’t think is an example of speaking softly. This is the person who after we hadn’t even finished Afghanistan where he said--'next up, Baghdad.' So I agree that we have to speak responsibly.”
(Senator Barack Obama, U.S. Presidential Debate, October 7, 2008) - Accumulation in Swift's "A Modest Proposal"
"[Jonathan] Swift uses the device of accumulation to good effect . . . [in] the brief description in the final paragraph: 'having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich.' This series concisely echoes each of the major group of reasons which have been set forth (except the antipapist reasons, which might, from the point of view of the projector, be included 'in the public good'). It is natural that both instances of accumulation in this essay should occur in the peroration, for recapitulation is one of the standard uses of this section of the speech."
(Charles A. Beaumont, "Swift's Rhetoric in 'A Modest Proposal.'" Landmark Essays on Rhetoric and Literature, ed. by Craig Kallendorf. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999) - George Carlin's Use of Accumulation
I’m a modern man, digital and smoke-free;
a man for the millennium.
A diversified, multi-cultural, post-modern deconstructionist;
politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.
I’ve been uplinked and downloaded,
I’ve been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing,
I know the downside of upgrading.
I’m a high-tech low-life.
a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art,
bi-coastal multi-tasker,
and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. . . .
(George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, Hyperion, 2004)
Pronunciation: ah-kyoom-you-LAY-shun
Also Known As: accumulatio, congeries
