Plods homeward the ploughman his weary way.
His weary way the ploughman homeward plods.
Homeward his weary way plods the ploughman.
Plods the ploughman his weary way homeward.
His weary way the ploughman plods homeward.
His weary way homeward the ploughman plods.
The ploughman plods homeward his weary way.
The ploughman his weary way plods homeward.

and so on. It is doubtful if any of the other forms are superior to the
one used by the poet. Of course his arrangement was made to comply with
the rhythm and rhyme of the verse. Most of the variations depend upon the
emphasis we wish to place upon the different words.

In arranging the words in an ordinary sentence we should not lose sight
of the fact that the beginning and end are the important places for
catching the attention of the reader. Words in these places have greater
emphasis than elsewhere.

In Gray's line the general meaning conveyed is that a weary ploughman is
plodding his way homeward, but according to the arrangement a very slight
difference is effected in the idea. Some of the variations make us think
more of the ploughman, others more of the plodding, and still others more
of the weariness.

As the beginning and end of a sentence are the most important places, it
naturally follows that small or insignificant words should be kept from
these positions. Of the two places the end one is the more important,
therefore, it really calls for the most important word in the sentence.
Never commence a sentence with _And_, _But_, _Since_, _Because_, and