Inversion Types of Syntactic Deviations in the Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
words added to a sentence to make it complete. On the other hand, those which belong to adjunct are adverb and prepositional phrase that provides added
information about the meaning of a verb by expressing a relation of time, place, manner, etc.
The writer figures out nine sentences that happen to experience subject displacement. Below is an example of subject displacement found in the poems.
and maybe
was I
blind
Conjunction Adjunct Verb
Subject Complement ln 6
Datum No.53
This datum No.53 is an example of subject displacement showing that the subject was put at the end of a sentence. It is found in the poem entitled
“So Long” that tells about someone who has gone for so long to another place, and
perhaps another world. “I” in the sentence “and maybe was I blind” breaks the rule of a standard
structure in which subject should come first before the verb. The author used subject displacement to emphasize the persona in the poems for he did not realize
what the reality was. The person that the persona waited for had gone for a long time. However, the persona had not really understood the reason for
the person‟s leaving as he stated “but it‟s like a foreign language in my mind”. The persona felt
very lost after the person‟s leaving that he did not want to see the reality that the person had gone for a very long time.
A further example of subject displacement is illustrated as follows.
So long, So far away Is
Africa.
Complement Verb
Subject ln 1 8
Subdued and time-lost Are
the drums
Complement Verb
Subject ln 9 Datum No.53
This datum No.53 is taken from the poem entitled “Afro-American
Fragment ”. The poem discussed a worker who had been working for a long time
in America. He had lived in America for a long time that he almost lost his memories of Africa and the nuance there. One day he heard an African song, and
that brought sadness yet strangeness to him. The song made him realize that Africa was very far in distance. He figured out strange rhyme on the song and that
made him feel lonely. The phrase so long, so far away breaks the word order rules. It should
come after the Subject and Verb. The standard English is Africa is so long, so far away. The phrase so long, so far away gives information about Africa, therefore it
should come after the subject. The same case happens for the second sentence. The phrase subdued and time-lost explains about the drums, therefore it should
come after the drums are and make a whole sentence of The drums are subdued and time-lost. The subjects in those two sentences above are misplaced. They are
put at the end of a sentence. These kinds of sentences are put to attract the readers‟ attention while reading the poem.
One more example of subject displacement is presented in the following datum.
But then comes
summer
Conjunction Verb
Subject ln 5
Datum No.22
Another subject displacement is found in the poem entitled “When Young
Spring Comes”. This poem tells readers about the beginning of year as a chance to be a better man. However, when summer comes, some distraction will also come
to wobble. As described above, the subject summer is displaced. It is supposed to come
before the verb comes. Thus, The standard English is “But then summer comes”.