Definition of Adynaton
Adynaton is a form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility.
Etymology of Adynaton
The word “adynaton” is derived from Greek word “adunaton” which means unable or impossible. This idea of impossibility gave rise to a hyperbolic figure of speech called “adynaton”.
Explanation of Adynaton
Adynaton is a rhetorical device used in literature to show the impossibility of the occurrence of something under any circumstances. It introduces those situations which are in contrast to nature and custom. It is the extreme level of hyperbole when exaggeration reaches to the level of impossibility. Such an extreme level of exaggeration is used to emphasize a point or to show the intensity of something. It is either used for the purpose of comparison or contrast.
Usage of Adynaton
Adynaton is used to exaggerate something in order to emphasize a point. It is used in a humorous as well as serious way.
In the Classical and Medieval literature adynaton was widely used as a literary and rhetorical device by the Ancient Greeks and Roman poets and playwrights.
For example, there is a list of proverbs built on adynaton in the eclogue of Plutarch, a philosopher in the middle ages.
Another example is the collection of proverbial expressions of Zenobius (A Greek sophist) also shows the use of adynata. For example “to count sand”, which means to talk about something unattainable.
The use of this figure of speech was reduced during the Middle Ages until its revival in the Romantic Period when the Romantic Poets used it to show their extreme love and the highest degree of affection for their beloved.
For example “Together, we shall sooner see, I, & you, The Rhône tarry, & reverse its course, The Saône roil, and return to source, Than this my fire ever die down”. (Maurice Scève)
In modern literature, adynaton is used in drama, folklore and fiction.
Proverbs, Riddles, Ballads and Legends have countless examples of adynata (plural of adynaton).
The example of the use of adynata in fiction can be seen in Henrik Ibsen’s play called “Brand”.
“Part heat from fire, then, by that notion,
Part forest from snow, wet from the ocean!
Ask less!”
The above lines show several impossible things that cannot be practically done. These are examples of adynata’s use in fiction.
Adynaton is used as idioms in different languages such as;
“When hell freezes over” (English)
“When hens grow teeth” (French)
“When hair grows on the palm of my hand” (Hebrew)
The use of adynaton is not only limited to literature but can be used in conversation and in situations to express impossibility or the extreme of something. Such as “My mother will kill me when she gets back home.” Or “I will believe you when pigs fly.”
The above statements show two extreme and exaggerated situations.
Examples of Adynaton in Literature
- Adynata in Stevie Wonder’s song “As”:
“Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky (line 11)
Until the ocean covers every mountain high (line 12)
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea (line 13)
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream (line 14)
The above group of lines mentions the impossibilities which are examples of adynata. It talks about rainbow burning stars in the sky, ocean covering mountains, dolphins flying and parrots living in water etc. All these are against the natural law and can never occur in reality.
- Lines from the poem of W.H.Auden “As I Walked Out in the Evening”:
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street
It shows the impossibilities that can never happen. Here the poet wants to express his extreme love for his beloved by overstating things that can never happen as the meeting of the boundaries of China and Africa, the jumping of a river high over a mountain and a salmon singing in the streets. These are examples of adynata because all of them are exaggerations and can never happen in reality.
- Adynata in the passage written by a Latin poet Virgil:
Rather fast deer will be fed in the sky and the seas will leave fish naked on the beach, rather the Parther will drink from Saone or Germans from Tigris, after he has left his territory and passed through the other; than his countenance disappears from our hearts.
It consists of several adynata. Several impossibilities are listed that are never possible to occur but are more likely to happen than the “disappearance of his face from our hearts”. Here the purpose of using adynata was to express the intensity of love felt for the beloved.
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare:
“Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! They pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red…”
There is an evident and effective use of adynaton. After killing King Duncan, Macbeth feels extremely guilty. He regrets the murder of the king and says that even the oceans cannot wash the blood of the king from his hands. This is the exaggerated guilt and remorse of the hero beautifully explained by Shakespeare.
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:
“Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
anything, of nothing first create!
heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms …
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?”
They show the examples of adynata because pairs of opposite concepts are given to show Romeo’s love. Romeo compares his love with other things. He mixes love with hatred, hot with cold, dark with bright, and sick with health etc. These examples express the exaggeration of the love of Romeo that he feels for Juliet.