Periodic Structure
Definition:
In literature, the concept of a periodic structure refers to a particular placement of sentence elements such as the main clause of the sentence and/or its predicate are purposely held off and placed at the end instead of at the beginning or their conventional positions. In such placements, the crux of the sentence’s meaning does not become clear to the reader until they reach the last part. While undeniably confusing at first, a periodic structure lends a flair of drama and romanticism to a sentence and is greatly used in poetry.
Example:
Instead of writing, “brokenhearted and forlorn she waited till the end of her days for his return” one may write, “for his return, brokenhearted and forlorn, waited she till the end of her days”.
Comments
6 comments postedI like it cuz it helps kids
Thank you for the information! I searched all over google for this.
Kind of like Yoda
so does this mean the way Yoda, from star wars, talks is a literary device. that's pretty cool
no
like this, I think:
“for his return, brokenhearted and forlorn, till the end of her days she waited.”
since the predicate here is really only 'waited'.
Am I correct on this?
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