Editing Parataxis (section)

{{short description|Literary technique}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2011}}
'''Parataxis''' (from {{langx|el|παράταξις}}, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, ''para'' "beside" + τάξις, ''táxis'' "arrangement") is a [[literary technique]] in writing or speaking that favors short, simple [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]s without conjunctions, or sentences [[Conjunction (grammar)#Coordinating conjunctions|coordinated]] without the use of [[Conjunction_(grammar)#Subordinating_conjunctions|subordinating conjunction]]s.<ref>{{citation |last=Fish |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Fish |title=How to Write a Sentence |page=62 |isbn=978-0-06-184054-8 |date=2011}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Butler |first=Christoper |title=Structure and Function: A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories. Part 2: From clause to discourse and beyond |volume=64 |series=Studies in Language |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |date=2003 |pages=260–261 |isbn=9781588113580 |doi=10.1075/slcs.64}}</ref> It contrasts with [[syntaxis]] and [[hypotaxis]].

It is also used to describe a technique in poetry in which two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar images or fragments, are juxtaposed without a clear connection.<ref>{{Citation  |url=http://www.literarydevices.com/parataxis/|title=Parataxis Examples and Definition|website=Literary Devices|date=5 May 2016|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>  Readers are then left to make their own connections implied by the paratactic syntax. [[Ezra Pound]], in his adaptation of Chinese and Japanese poetry, made the stark juxtaposition of images an important part of English-language poetry.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://poets.org/book/cantos |title=''The Cantos'' |website=Academy of American Poets |access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>