Hi there! Here's another mini-lesson to support an integrated approach to Module C: Craft of Writing, this time focusing on the literary device of hyperbaton.
Hyperbaton
What is it: Meaning to 'transpose', hyperbaton refers to the rearrangement of words into the less expected order. Writers move words around or reverse the clauses in a sentence.
Examples:
- "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not" - Return of the Jedi, directed by George Lucas.
- "As you from crimes would pardoned be, / Let your indulgence set me free" - The Tempest, William Shakespeare
Why use it:
- Can deliberately startle or confuse the reader, forcing them to consciously reorder the words and build the meaning in their own head.
- Used in poetry to reorder the words so that rhyme and rhythm can be maintained.
- Refocuses the reader on specific phrases and words.
- Can be symbolic in upsetting the expected order of things.
- In the right hands it can add a sense of literary weight.
Quick Activity:
Create a conversation between two characters in which one uses hyperbaton. Consider the kind of person this would be and describe them.
Thank you Luke! This has always fascinated me...
ReplyDeleteI especially love the way Wilfred Owen employs this in 'The Send Off'
"They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent.
Nor there if they yet mock what women meant
Who gave them flowers."
And in the final lines of Dulce... <3
That's a great example! It can really stick in your head when an author uses it well.
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