(Does this figure change to another in its course?)
“How far that little candle throws its beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”
Of retired Dutch valleys, Irving wrote:—
“They are like those little nooks of still water which border a rapid stream; where we may see the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their mimic harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current.”
Figures based upon Sentence Structure. There are a number of figures that express emotion [262] by simply changing the normal order of the sentence. Among these are inversion, exclamation, interrogation, climax, and irony.
Inversion is a figure intended to give emphasis to the thought by a change from the natural order of the words in a sentence.
“Thine be the glory!”
“Few were the words they said.”
“He saved others; himself he cannot save.”
Exclamation is an expression of strong emotion in abrupt, inverted, or elliptical phrases. It is among sentences what the interjection is among words.