English Literature / Unit 1 ENL 0006 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Syntax and Inversion in Verse
Captions available
The idea
Syntax is the order of words in a sentence, and verse often rearranges it. Inversion, called anastrophe or hyperbaton, moves words out of normal order for meter, rhyme or emphasis. Pope puts the cause before its verb: "What dire offence from am'rous causes springs."
In practice
Put the sentence back in order first.
Where people slip
Inversion is not an error.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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