[Allen Tice]

Originally Posted by Svein Olav Nyberg

It should rather be to follow Strunk & White 's dictum that, within the larger syntactical unit, the most important word, phrase and sentence should always come last. ( rule 22 )

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Svein Olav (The poet formerly known as Solan )

There's something to that. And a lot to this:

Originally Posted by Henry Quince

Ernest Dowson in the short piece below uses a particular and rather colloquial type of inversion, if that’s the right word, in the first line of each of the two quatrains. This is the type of construction frequently heard in sentences like “He was an odd fellow, my old Uncle Godfey.” The early pronoun is a kind of placeholder for the subject, which is then spelt out after the predicate. The subject gains extra emphasis by being mentioned twice, once in its full form at the end of the phrase or sentence where it reverberates in the mind.

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
....Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
....We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
....Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
....Within a dream.



[This message has been edited by Henry Quince (edited May 30, 2005).]