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Anastrophic inversion

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A rhetorical inversion of conventional word order for metrical, emphatic, or expressive purposes; it disrupts expected syntax to highlight key terms, achieve rhyme, or imitate classical diction in English poetry.

Detailed Definition
Anastrophic inversion is a deliberate syntactic reversal—placing object before subject or verb before complement—not for metrical convenience but to disrupt expectation and foreground meaning; this rhetorical twist, common in Romantic and modernist poetry, creates emphasis, mystery, or archaic solemnity through unnatural word order.
Example
Example in poetry:
Anastrophic inversion reverses normal word order for emphasis or meter, as in Milton: “Him the Almighty Power / Hurled headlong…” instead of “The Almighty Power hurled him…”
Additional Notes
Anastrophic inversion flips expected word order for emphasis or rhythmic effect (e.g., “Gone are the days”); a form of hyperbaton that can heighten poetic diction.
Also Known As
Inverted word order Reversed syntax Transposed arrangement
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