Inversion (prosody)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
 |
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Substitution (poetry). (Discuss) Proposed since July 2009. |
In prosody the Inversion of a foot, or anaclasis, is the reversal of the order of its elements. For example, in English Accentual-syllabic verse the most common inversion by far is the reversal of the first iamb in a line of verse, thus resulting in a trochee. Examples can be found in the first and second lines of Hamlet's soliloquy:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'
Here, that is emphasized rather than is, which would be a wrenched, or unnatural accent. The first syllable of Whether is also stressed, making it a trochaic beginning.
 |
This poetry-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
