Students, please take a few minutes to analyze and comment on the following excerpt from the chapter entitled “Aeneas at Carthage.” Note the author’s use of personification and descriptive language. Post your comments below.
Aboard the Trojan ships, there was no time for panic. Sails were ripped from their masts; the decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents, all mingled with sea-water and blood. There was a tearing and slapping of wet fabric, and the scream and crack of wood bent beyond the limit of its length. The low, desperate babble of human confusion was broken now and then by the shriek of some poor creature crushed by a mast, or the shrill neighing of a horse swept overboard into the boiling sea.
Human wits and muscle could do nothing. Aeneas, his legs gripping a rocking ladder, raised his hands to the sky. “Why didn’t we die in Troy?” he cried, but the words of his prayer were lost in the gale; the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament.
Aboard the Trojan ships, there was no time for panic. Sails were ripped from their masts; the decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents, all mingled with sea-water and blood. There was a tearing and slapping of wet fabric, and the scream and crack of wood bent beyond the limit of its length. The low, desperate babble of human confusion was broken now and then by the shriek of some poor creature crushed by a mast, or the shrill neighing of a horse swept overboard into the boiling sea.
Human wits and muscle could do nothing. Aeneas, his legs gripping a rocking ladder, raised his hands to the sky. “Why didn’t we die in Troy?” he cried, but the words of his prayer were lost in the gale; the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament.
Due April 23, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.
Yes, the author uses a lot of personification to bring the moment alive. My favorite is
ReplyDelete“Why didn’t we die in Troy?” he cried, but the words of his prayer were lost in the gale; the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament."
it seemed to wailing the same lament and his prayers were Lost in the gale. He also used descriptive words like gale instead of gust of wind. He also used the shrill neighing of the horse etc. In my opinion this is the most descriptive book in important and malevolent scenes.
I like the way the scene is so alive and how the author really brings you into that moment and using personifications like... " the scream and crack of wood" and " crates of wine belching thier contents..." Everyone is so confused and frantically running around. It really brought me In when Aeneas said he would have rather died in the fires of Troy than be sunk beneath the waves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eli that Emily Frenkel used a lot of personification in this passage, some examples being "torn wineskins belching their contents," "the scream and crack of wood," "boiling sea," and "the whole ship seemed to be wailing the lament."
ReplyDeleteI like the sentence, "Sails were ripped from their masts; the decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents, all mingled with sea-water and blood." I think of riots as a time when people are all confused and scattered and running around and everything is mayhem (like that commercial!). By writing that the decks were a riot of these things, it summons an image of scattered rigging with timber stuck in it, wine spilling in the floor, mixed with water and blood, all while the ship rocks violently to and fro on the "boiling sea."
The sentence, "'Why didn't we die in Troy?' he cried, but the words of his prayer were lost in the gale; the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament." reminds me of the books The Throne of Fire and The Serpent's Shadow, where Sadie and Carter ride the sun boat, and it is steered by little orbs that talk to Sadie. I think of the ship having these little orbs mounted in the side of the ship crying their eyes and wailing what Aeneas is wailing.
First off, there are many forms of personification in this excerpt. For example, in the phrase there is a great sample of personification:
ReplyDelete"The decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents, all mingled with sea water and blood."
A riot is a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of people, like a rowdy mutiny. You cant ship parts causing a noisy uproar. But in the world of literary devices, this is a phrase that actually exists, and it makes it sound better.
Second off, there is great vocabulary in this excerpt. The word gale, like Eli mentions, is better than just saying very fierce winds. the sentence would sound way different, and babble is a better word too. Instead of saying:
"The low, desperate uttering of words that sound incomprehensible of human confusion was broken now."
You can add one word to make it sound more interesting. it also makes your writing sound more smart. Shrill is a vivid word, and is the perfect word for descriptive language. Shrill means high-pitched and piercing in sound, so the high pitched neighing of the horse being swept overboard makes the sentence more interesting to hear. Lament is a good word too. It means the time of mourning or grief. Because there was a storm, it seemed like the world was wailing, and it was crying big tears and its wails were the loud thunder booms.
And last but not least, my opinion. Honestly, I like this passage 50/50. Like Eli mentioned, The descriptive imagery in the entire passage along with the excellent personification and vivid vocabulary makes the passage sound more smart and adds more descriptive detail to it, but on the other the contrary, some parts of this doesn't put all the puzzle pieces together pitch perfect. The line, "Why didn't we die in Troy?" immediately has the word summarizing it all up, prayer. That sentence didn't sound like a prayer, it sounded like Aeneas was shouting his sadness out to the gods who are creating horrible weather for his journey. And also when it states, "wood bent beyond the limit of its length" it states that wood was bent by its immeasurable length. that doesn't fit together to well. But it still makes a great excerpt. Go Aeneas!!!!!!
I absolutely love these two paragraphs. These paragraphs have such great imagery, descriptive language, and personification it feels as if I am suffering with Aeneas and the remaining Trojans. I love how Virgil, put into children' form by Emily Frenkel, wrote, "Aboard the Trojan ships, there was no time to panic." Although usually this is a sign to stay calm, however in this writing it means that the Trojans had no time to panic because the Greeks had already damage the ships. The attack was too fast for the Trojans to respond therefore they had no time to panic. I also love the last line when the ship is supposedly wailing the same lament as Aeneas. This is another fabulous line written by Virgil and translated by Emily Frenkel. The personification is really good and truly represent the Trojan ships cracking and whining as the wood creaked into the ocean. Overall, these are two great paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteI find this passage very intriguing and interesting. It puts a thought in your mind and a feeling in you're heart that makes you want to read more. I was especially drawn to the passages
ReplyDelete"torn wineskins belching their contents, the scream and crack of wood bent beyond the limit of its length., and the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament."
They were compelling me to read to them.
The way Aneas says "Why didn't we die in Troy!" Makes me feel that he and his crew are in so much pain and are struggling to go on. I also really enjoy the personification, agreeing with a few other people above. Overall I think it is a great passage that pulls you into the book. I can't wait to read and finish the book!!
I really like how in this passage the author explains what is going on through personification and imagery, and makes you feel like you are surrounded in the passage itself. The part with "the torn wine skins belching their content" is really awesome because it explains the wine cascading out of the skins in an interesting way. I really like the sounds that come to mind while reading this also, like when he explains the would cracking, and the babbling confusion aboard the ship. I basically just really like how the author this shipwreck seem as really and scary as possible just using interesting and descriptive language.
ReplyDeleteI really like how the author wrote "the whole ship seemed to be wailing the same lament." It really shows that right then, they all wished they had just died rather than fighting the ocean. I love all of the descriptive language that is used. It makes the story come alive. Like how she uses riot of rigging and belching. You don't normally think of those words associating with a boat and wineskins, but when she uses it, it makes sense and brings the passage alive, and makes it more vivid. One line of personification that I like is, "the scream and crack of wood." Also, I love how the author said "into the boiling sea." It makes the ocean seem very scary, and feared by many.
ReplyDeleteI really like this passage, and can't wait to finish the book!
In this passage, I like how the author made the scene come alive and made me, the reader feel like I was there with Aeneas. I especially liked when Aeneas said, “Why didn’t we die in Troy?” It really tells the reader how bad it was. This line also tells the reader they would rather have died in Troy than battle the ocean. Like Matt, I love the line "Aboard the Trojan ships, there was no time to panic.” It shows how fast everything was going and that Aeneas and his crew had didn’t have enough time to do everything like panic. Panicking doesn’t take that much time, but the author was trying to say there was no time to spare.
ReplyDeleteI also love how much personification is in those two paragraphs. My favorite example of personification in the passage is “the scream and crack of wood…”
Another line in this passage that I like is, “Human wits and muscle could do nothing.” This line tells the reader that even if the Trojans tried to do something they weren’t able to.
I can’t wait to finish the book!
In this passage, I really the sentence, The low, desperate babble of human confusion was broken now and then by the shriek of some poor creature crushed by a mast, or the shrill neighing of a horse swept overboard into the boiling sea. The author brings the moment alive by using very action ful words like shrill, crushed, or shriek. In the passage, he makes the reader feel like he or she is experiencing the same thing as Aeneas. The two paragraphs put a really clear image in the reader's mind so it feels like the reader is right there hearing and feeling these things. Overall, these two passages are great forms of personification and they draw clear pictures in your mind through words.
ReplyDeleteWithin this Passage from the book the author uses a lot of vivid language and describes what's going on almost like your watching it happen in real life. It makes me feel like I'm standing there as the ship is being destroyed, sails flying, wood splitting, and the waves towering over the ships. I believe the other put a lot of time into this because it is just so vivid it's painting a picture in my mind. This is one of my favorite passages in the book.
ReplyDelete-Sean Browne
This passage creates very nice and interesting pictures in my head. The imagery is very nice in this paragraph and i really like it. The passage is really descriptive and I really like that about the book in general- about how descriptive it is. The part in the paragraph where it says, "sails flying" and "wood splitting" it created a very cool picture in my head when i first read it. Like a lot of people said before, the passage is just so vivid and it creates very unique pictures in my mind.
ReplyDeleteThis passage to me was very descriptive and beautiful. I really liked Emily Frankel's use of words and made great imagery and personification.
ReplyDeleteFor example,
"Sails were ripped from their masts; the decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents, all mingled with sea-water and blood."
This phrase really showed imagery and made me imagine the situation. When it said, "the decks were a riot of rigging", it made me think of an angry mob of people which was compared to the ship parts that were getting jumbled up. The sea-water and blood also added lots of detail and more graphics to the personification.
You can really imagine what was happening and made it easier to see what the author was seeing. My favorite line: "Human wits and muscle could do nothing," showed that Trojans were in a helpless and difficult situation and thought it was a great detail and made it so that you can imagine their body language and what they felt. This passage overall described how the shipwreck was like, and how the people on it reacted to it.
I think that these two paragraphs have excellent descriptive language. I really love the line where it says, “The decks were a riot of rigging, timber, torn wineskins belching their contents all mingled with sea-water and blood.” This line sort of reminds me of a poem the way that the words flow and they kind of roll off your tongue. It is great personification where it talks about the decks being a riot and the wineskins belching since you can’t give neither decks nor wineskins human qualities. The part about their contents being mingled with sea-water, really gives the reader a clear picture of what Virgin is trying to portray. The bit where it says, “and the scream and crack of wood bent beyond the limit of its length,” is really good. I thought that line was really interesting because it combines imagery with personification in such a way that it, again, portrays a clear image. I thought that the part where it says,” Human wits and muscle could do nothing,” really says a lot without saying a lot at all. I can tell that this author is extremely gifted because he said that instead of saying something like, ”It was too powerful for us.” It really takes a lot of thought, effort, and skill to come up with something like that. When Aeneas says, ”Why didn’t we die in Troy?” it strikes me funny that he would think like that because I would be thinking something like we were lucky as could be to make it out of there alive.
ReplyDeleteAh, so THIS is from where the really good quotes come!
ReplyDeleteSo everyone said what I was thinking (personification, vivid vocabulary, alliteration, etc.) I will concentrate on the sentence structure. Sentence 1 sets the scene: where are we? What is the mood of the story? Will this be fast-paced or lazy? I notice sentences like that in books such as Ranger's Apprentice ("There was so much to see and hear, Horace didnt know which way to turn his head first."-The Icebound Land, p. 78) and Harry Potter ("Everyone in the common room was much too busy in letting off holiday steam to observe what anyone else was up to."-Goblet of Fire, p. 406) After that, there are a series of literary devices, onomatopoeia (Scream? Crack? Babble?) and imagery (neigh swept into boiling sea). The sentences are also very long, with multiple subjects and their predicates, which is unusual since modern-day authors consistently use short, bordering-on-machine-gun sentences to move the action along and keep readers on the edges of their seats (to use a familiar cliche.)
The author described the scene with lots of literary devices.
ReplyDeleteI especially love how the wine skins belch their contents and they mix with water and blood. Another good one is the screaming of the wood, and the boiling sea. The best one is probably how the ship laments with Aeneas.
This was a very descriptive scene with personification, imagery, and descriptive words.
This passage from the book has imagery, it is very descriptive, and includes many literary devices. My favorite part is "The ship seemed to be wailing." This scene is very active and alive.
ReplyDeleteThese two paragraphs from Aeneas are amazing. The personification such as "the scream and the crack of wood bent beyond the limit of its length" is really neat. That is also my favorite part from that excerpt. The part where it says "bent beyond the limit of its length" really intrigued me because it was so detailed and filled with life. Everything in here is just so detailed and perfectly said. Anyone could tell that this was well thought out. Almost anyone could take these two paragraphs and say almost exactly the same thing but in a boring way. Instead of saying "boiling sea" you could say "dangerous sea", which is not as exciting in my opinion. Instead of saying the part about the wood screaming, you could say "the wood made a loud sound", which almost means the same thing but is not as attractive and well written. And Sophie, let me applaud you for picking that fantastic quote from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! Everyone here also did a great job on explaining what they thought about this excerpt from Aeneas!
ReplyDeleteFIONA C.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, there is a lot of descriptive language and personification and the sentence that really stood out from the others was, "Over the smooth water, seven of the Trojan ships limped to a nearby coat.'' I really liked how the author made the illusion in my head as to see ships limping, when they are actually torn and ruined, just like if your knee might hurt, you would start limping. So would the ships if they were destroyed.
HELIA F.
ReplyDeleteI think the best part of the book was the descriptive language Virgil used. It made his book come alive. He would use creative and vivid language while telling his story of Aeneas. In one part he wrote "The low, desperate babble of human confusion" which i think was a good way of descriptive language and describing the emotion people were having in that scene. One of the best things that Virgil does is he makes the book come alive, as if you were actually in the book. And lastly it was great when Aeneas yelled, "Why didn't we die in Troy?" As if he was asking the gods why did you keep me alive or do you want me to wait for something? And when Virgil wrote, "but the words of his prayer were lost in the gale" as if the gods talked and told Aeneas that he must be patient, they have something special for him, which was Rome.
Thank you, students! Great responses!
ReplyDeleteThis blog post closed at 4 p.m. on 4/23/13.