Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One device, a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet, since the adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful:
- From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content with the promise that she could ride on the train again next week.
But the delayed epithet can also be used by itself, though in only a relatively few cases:
- She had a personality indescribable.
- His was a countenance sad.
Some rhetoricians condemn delayed epithet altogether in formal writing because of its potential for abuse. Each case must be tested carefully, to make sure it does not sound too poetic:
- His was a countenance friendly.
- These are rumors strange.
And especially make sure the phrase is not affected, offensive, or even disgusting:
- Welcome to our home comfortable.
- That is a story amazing.
I cannot give you a rule (why does "countenance sad" seem okay when "countenance friendly" does not?) other than to consult your own taste or sense of what sounds all right and what does not.
A similar form of inversion we might call divided epithets. Here two adjectives are separated by the noun they modify, as in Milton's "with wandering steps and slow." Once again, be careful, but go ahead and try it. Some examples:
- It was a long operation but successful.
- Let's go on a cooler day and less busy.
- So many pages will require a longer staple, heavy-duty style.
Another form of hyperbaton involves the separation of words normally belonging together, done for effect or convenience:
- In this room there sit twenty (though I will not name them) distinguished people.
You can emphasize a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:
- We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, be evicted.
- Sandy, after a long struggle, all the way across the lake, finally swam to shore.
You might want to have a friend check your excursions into hyperbatonic syntax, and if he looks at you askance and says, "My, talk funny you do," you might want to do a little rewriting. But, again, do not mark this off your list just because you might not be always successful at it.
