anastrophe anastrophe
 an-as'-tro-phee from Gk. ana “back again” and
strephein “to turn, a turning back”
parallage, syncategorema
inversio, reversio, trajectio
reversal

Departure from normal word order for the sake of emphasis.
  Anastrophe is most often a synonym for hyperbaton, but is occasionally referred to as a more specific instance of hyperbaton: the changing of the position of only a single word.
Examples
  Anastrophe occurs whenever normal syntactical arrangment is violated for emphasis:
The verb before the subject-noun (normal syntax follows the order subject-noun, verb):
Glistens the dew upon the morning grass. (Normally: The dew glistens upon the morning grass)

Adjective following the noun it modifies (normal syntax is adjective, noun):
She looked at the sky dark and menacing. (Normally: She looked at the dark and menacing sky)

The object preceding its verb (normal syntax is verb followed by its object):
Troubles, everybody's got. (Normally: Everybody's got troubles)

Preposition following the object of the preposition (normal syntax is preposition, object ["upon our lives"]):
It only stands / Our lives upon, to use Our strongest hands
—Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra 2.1.50-51

Related Figures
 
See Also
 

 
  Sources: Bede 614; Sherry (1550) 31 ("anastrophe," "reversio"); Peacham (1577) F3v; Day 1599 82


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University
Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae" (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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