[Prof. Masiello]

Make sure you really know what these terms mean:
alliteration
metaphor
simile
personification

The two pages are posted in Files because there I can have the lines numbered.

Answers should be like this:

line 1 personification “The sun made its usual round of the house ”

Just spend 20 minutes on this. Primarily this is to help you appreciate Nabokov’s style.

REMEMBER: THE TWO PAGES ARE IN FILES AND MUST BE DOWNLOADED TO WORK ON.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Prof. Masiello.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Prof. Masiello.

[Gabby]

Line 11 – Alliteration, “As I lurched and lunged with the hand mower…”

Line 3 – Metaphor, “Most of the dandelions changed from suns to moons…”

Line 12 – Personification, “bits of grass optically twittering in the low sun…”

(I can’t find a simile)

[Angel Rivera]

Line 19 Alliteration – “Leslie, old Miss Opposite’s gardener and chauffeur, a very amiable and athletic Negro, grinned at me from afar and shouted, re-shouted, commented by gesture, that I was mighty energetic today.”

Line 14 Personification – “A reek of sap mingled with the pineapple.”

Line 1 Simile – “The sun made its usual round of the house as the afternoon ripened into evening.”

Line 2 Metaphor – “Most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons.”

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Angel Rivera.

[weipeng lin]

1) Alliteration- words in the sentences have or begin with the same first letter
2) Metaphor- is a phrase that compares two unrelated things (does not use like or as)
3) Simile- comparing two different or unrelated things that used like or as
4) Personification- giving nonliving things human characteristics, feelings, or action

line 1 Personification “The sun made its usual round of the house”
line 3 Metaphor “Most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons”
line 6 Personification “As I lurched and lunged with the hand mower, bits of grass optically twittering in the lower sun”
line 9 Personification “A reek of sap mingled with the pineapple”
line 11 Alliteration “Leslie, old Miss Opposite’s gardener and chauffeur, a very amiable and athletic Negro”

[Shania Tennant]

Line 7 Alliteration- “As I lurched and lunged… twittering in the low sun”
Line 2 Metaphor- “Most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons”
Line 1 Simile- “The sun made its usual round of the house as the afternoon ripped into the evening”
Line 9 Personification- “It curved in… then sped towards us… and disappeared”

[Asher Derry]

Line 26 Alliteration – “… the shadows snapped, and swung by at an idiotic pace” | Use of “snapped” and “swung” form an alliteration.
Line 17 Metaphor – “both talking at the top of their sunny voices.” | Use of “sunny” applies a non-literal adjective to the human voice.
Line 5 Simile* – “Therefore I was able to watch (with the smirk of one about to perform a good action)…” | This could also be written “with a smirk like one about to …”.
Line 27 Personification – “… at an idiotic pace” | A pace has no intellect, idiotic or otherwise.

*I believe that although similes in English often include the comparative prepositions “like” or “as”, this sentence still qualifies through it’s use of the prepositional statements “of one”.

[Justin Alava]

Simile: line 1: “the sun made its usual round of the house as the afternoon ripped into the evening”

Personification: line 12: ” bits of grass optically twittering in the low sun”

Metaphor: line 2: ” most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons”

Alliteration: line 26: ” the shadows snapped, and swung by at an idiotic pace”

[Asif Khan]

Line 2
“Most of the dandelions had changed from suns to moons.”
Metaphor

Line 26
“…the shadows snapped, and swung by at an idiotic pace.” There were many pieces that seemed like alliteration, but this one used “S” three times in a short period of time, so I chose it.

Line 14
“A reek of sap mingled with the pineapple.”
Personification

Line 1
“The sun made its usual round of the house as the afternoon ripped into the evening.”
Not completely sure on this one – couldn’t find anything other than this.

[Prof. Masiello]

Asher,

You obviously know your grammar. Hopefully, you are seeing why Nabokov’s language is so admired. He is a Russian author whose mastery of English is amazing.

[Prof. Masiello]

There is so much alliteration in those 2 pages and in the entire novel.

See if any of your classmates found what you couldn’t, Gabby.

[Prof. Masiello]

Asif,

I do not think the reek of sap is personification. Reek means smell. However, line 14 has one or two examples of personification since people make rounds and rip through things.

[Prof. Masiello]

Shania,

I don’t think your line 1 is a simile. Please see what I wrote to Asif.

[Prof. Masiello]

Justin,

Your line 26 is a fine choice. I am not sure why some students see line 1 as a simile. It is personification, don’t you see?

[Prof. Masiello]

Wei Peng, You chose some good ones, but people do not twitter as blades of grass (there were no such things as Twitter or Internet when this book was written) and I already mentioned the line 9 matter with others.

Nice.

[Tatiana B.]

Tatiana Bates

1. Alliteration- several words in a sentence that begin with the same sound or letter, when those words are read aloud, it creates a sound effect
2. Metaphor- usually a comparison made between objects without using the words “like” or “as”. Metaphors replace one word for another unrelated word
3. Simile- A statement that compares one thing to another, using “like” or “as”.
4. Personification- Giving or attributing a human characteristic, action, or quality to a non-living thing.
Line 1
“The sun made its usual round of the house”
Personification- in this case the sun is making rounds giving it human characteristic or action

Line 1
“ The sun made its usual round of the house as the afternoon ripened into the evening.
Personification – the comparison of the sun making its usual round using as to compare this to the afternoon ripening such as a passage of time

Line 2
“…dandelions had changed from suns to moons”
Metaphor- comparing suns to moons without using “like” or “as”

Line 7
“as I lurched and lunged with the hand mower…”
Alliteration- initial sounds of every other word also create a sound effect for the words beginning with “l” in this sentence

Line 8-9
“…that section of suburban street…”
Alliteration- the initial sound of each word creates a sound effect for the words that begin with “s” forming an alliteration

Line 24
“…hidden from this Green Gable by the frontage of Mr. and Mrs. Humbert’s residence.”
Alliteration: initial sound of each word creates a sound effect of Green Gable

Line 25
“ A station wagon popped out of the leafy shade of the avenue…”
Personification- a station wagon is a non-living thing therefor “popped out” or jumped out is a human like action

Line 26
“ dragging some of it on its roof before the shadows snapped, and swung at an idiotic pace”
Alliteration and Personification- once again the initial letter of each word creates a sound effect with the “…shadows snapped and swung…” Here we can also see the usage of idiotic or to be idiotic is considered a human like action or characteristic

I am quite sure there are more I may have missed or gauged incorrectly.