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Saturday, February 23, 2019

Craft of Writing: Hyperbaton


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. 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Luke! This has always fascinated me...
    I 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

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  2. That's a great example! It can really stick in your head when an author uses it well.

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