Stylistic semasiology

Stylistic inversion. Any kind of deviation from the usual order of words in the sentence is called inversion. Stylistic inversion is placing a part of the sentence into a position unusual for it for the purpose of emphasis. Compare:
«They slid down» — «Down they slid».
The initial position of a word or a word-group which do not usually occupy this position makes them prominent and emphatic. The initial position may be occupied by various members of the sentence: predicative, verbal predicate, adverbial modifier, direct object, prepositional object.
Other kinds of inversion produce similar stylistic effect. Thus, if a sentence-member stands in the final instead of the initial position it also becomes prominent. This device is often used in poetry, e. g.:
«Не had moccasins enchanted,
Magic moccasins of deer-skin...»
(Longfellow)


Stylistic inversion
In the English language the structure of the sentence and the meaning very much depend on the order of words. There is not much choice as to word-order.
The English language has developed a tolerably fixed word-order: subject-predicate-object (SPO). The predominance of SPO word order makes con­spicuous any change in the structure of the sentence. The most conspicu­ous places in the sentence are considered to be the first and the last: the first — because of full force of stress, the last — because there is a pause after it. We should distinguish between grammatic, emphatic and stylistic inversion.
By grammatic inversion we understand such word order that changes the grammatical meaning of the sentence: makes it interrogative. Grammatic inversion is objective, it does not depend on any subjective attitude. It is normalised by grammar rales.
Emphatic inversion is a certain word-order which is brought into life by certain normalised conditions. It is also normalised in the language but not so strictly as grammatic inversion. It is not change the grammatic meaning of the sentence:
e.g. Never have I seen such a play.
Only then did I realise how wrong I had been.