Abstract

"Ordo artificialis" figures are widely used in literary language, both in prose and poetry, but they can still be of stylistic value. In Leopardi's "Canti" we observe a fluctuating but widespread use of this kind of syntactic construction, such as anastrophes, hyperbatons and epiphrasis. According to a typological analysis, focused on the syntagmatic level of the sentence, the phenomenon indicates a clear continuation of the tradition. However, focusing on its more complex forms (synchysis) and considering the interaction with metrics (particularly "enjambements"), we note a more refined use. The application of these structures is restricted to a few poems or passages, for which we may suppose that the figures play a stylistic and poetic role.