diff --git a/gnuplot.cabal b/gnuplot.cabal
--- a/gnuplot.cabal
+++ b/gnuplot.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:             gnuplot
-Version:          0.5.5
+Version:          0.5.5.1
 License:          BSD3
 License-File:     LICENSE
 Author:           Henning Thielemann <haskell@henning-thielemann.de>
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
   data/runtime.data
 
 Source-Repository this
-  Tag:         0.5.5
+  Tag:         0.5.5.1
   Type:        darcs
   Location:    http://code.haskell.org/gnuplot/
 
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
     data-accessor-transformers >=0.2.1 && <0.3,
     data-accessor >=0.2.2 && <0.3,
     transformers >=0.3 && <0.6,
+    semigroups >=0.1 && <1.0,
     deepseq >=1.0 && <1.5,
     process >=1.0 && <1.7,
     time >=1.5 && <1.9,
diff --git a/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Display.hs b/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Display.hs
--- a/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Display.hs
+++ b/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Display.hs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import qualified Control.Monad.Trans.State as MS
 import Control.Monad (liftM2, return, )
 import Data.Monoid (Monoid, mempty, mappend, )
+import Data.Semigroup (Semigroup, (<>), )
 
 import Prelude (FilePath, String, Int, ($), (.), )
 
@@ -29,23 +30,27 @@
 type OptionSet = Map.Map Option.T [String]
 
 
+instance Semigroup Script where
+   Script b0 <> Script b1 = Script (liftM2 (<>) b0 b1)
+
 {-
 Could also be implemented with Control.Monad.Trans.State:
 mappend = liftA2 mappend
 -}
 instance Monoid Script where
    mempty = Script $ return mempty
-   mappend (Script b0) (Script b1) =
-      Script (liftM2 mappend b0 b1)
+   mappend = (<>)
 
+instance Semigroup Body where
+   Body f0 c0 <> Body f1 c1 = Body (f0 <> f1) (c0 <> c1)
+
 {-
 Could also be implemented with Control.Monad.Trans.State:
 mappend = liftA2 mappend
 -}
 instance Monoid Body where
    mempty = Body mempty mempty
-   mappend (Body f0 c0) (Body f1 c1) =
-      Body (mappend f0 f1) (mappend c0 c1)
+   mappend = (<>)
 
 class C gfx where
    toScript :: gfx -> Script
diff --git a/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Plot.hs b/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Plot.hs
--- a/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Plot.hs
+++ b/src/Graphics/Gnuplot/Private/Plot.hs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import qualified Data.Foldable as Fold
 import Control.Monad (liftM2, return, )
 import Data.Monoid (Monoid, mempty, mappend, )
+import Data.Semigroup (Semigroup, (<>), )
 import Data.Maybe (Maybe(Just, Nothing), mapMaybe, )
 import Data.List (concatMap, map, (++), )
 import Data.Function (($), (.), )
@@ -35,14 +36,16 @@
 pure :: [File graph] -> T graph
 pure = Cons . return
 
+instance Semigroup (T graph) where
+   Cons s0 <> Cons s1 = Cons (liftM2 (<>) s0 s1)
+
 {-
 Could also be implemented with Control.Monad.Trans.State:
 mappend = liftA2 mappend
 -}
 instance Monoid (T graph) where
    mempty = Cons $ return mempty
-   mappend (Cons s0) (Cons s1) =
-      Cons (liftM2 mappend s0 s1)
+   mappend = (<>)
 
 
 withUniqueFile :: String -> [graph] -> T graph