A MODEL PARAGRAPH ANALYZING A PASSAGE FROM SHAKESPEARE
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Tommy Johnson
English 9
Mr. Salsich
9 January 2009

An Artistic Storm:

The Use Of Personification And Alliteration In A Passage From The Tempest

TS In Act 2, Scene 1 of The Tempest, Shakespeare uses several literary techniques to convey the shock and sorrow Miranda felt as she watched the ship go down in the storm. SD He uses personification when she describes to her father the sounds of distress she heard coming from the ship, saying they “did knock/ Against my very heart." CM The cries are only cries, but to Miranda they seemed to have hands that were actually knocking upon the door of her feelings. CM There is also personification in her description of the sea that “swallow’d … the … souls within” the ship, as if the sea were a living monster preying on ships and crews. SD Additionally a particularly interesting technique in this passage is Shakespeare’s use of alliteration. CM “Have sunk the sea” and “the good ship so have swallow’d” are lines containing as much verbal music as emotional intensity. CM The sweet ‘s’ sounds somehow make the power of the lines more concentrated.
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NOTES: 1) Be sure to use the correct form for heading, title, and subtitle. 2) Notice that the title of the play must be underlined or in italics. 3) Blend very short quotes smoothly into your own sentences. 4) Use a slash to indicate where the line in the play ends. 5) Use ellipsis to show that you left some words out of the quote. 6)In this phrase -- "as much verbal music as emotional intensity" -- I tried to use parallelism, repeating the adj-noun combination. Does it work? 6) Do you notice any alliteration in my sentences?