We have already talked in previous posts about stylistic resources based on the addition of words or their suppression. Well, now the time has come to review those that work with changes in the order of words, changes that are apparently very simple but can lead to substantial transformations for a phrase.
Visual hyperbaton
In other words, these style resources when writing do not lead to changes in the length of our texts, but instead they can be very effective in making the transmission of the ideas we propose more clear. And it is that with them we can emphasize aspects of our story that could otherwise be diluted and not get as much prominence.
Let's go through these stylistic devices by change of order.
The investment. The most common when recounting an episode is to follow a chronological discourse, from the beginning to the end. However, the resource of investment can make us start at the end and go back in time. In this way we make known the outcome of the events from the outset, valuing them differently than if we were exposing them as a conclusion.
The brackets. With the parentheses we do not refer to the orthographic sign, but to phrases that we incorporate into our speech and that function as annexes to it,but that we clearly relate them to some element. Thus cutting a story to introduce some reflection, certain data or comparisons that help us relativize what was said.
The adjective collocation. This resource allows us to see how changing the position of a word can be a substantial change. Since it is not the same to use prefixed epithets or adjectives, than qualifying or postposed, as the phrase acquires different connotations or different degrees of qualification. See the difference:
What difference do you see? In the first case, it can be understood that Carmen is an exceptional cook and she always makes excellent stews, while in the second we only like the dishes that turn out well for her, because she does not always make the stew to her point.
The hyperbaton. However, if we talk about the stylistic and literary resource that par excellence represents the change of word order, that is the hyperbaton. A resource that consists of altering the syntactic order of our sentences. A literary resource that can complicate the texts, and if you don't know how to make good use of it, it can turn them into something unreadable. For this reason, only the great masters of literature have taken full advantage of it.
An example could be the famous verses of the Rhymes of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer:
Although we can consider the baroque poet Luis de Góngora the great master of hyperbaton with verses like these:
