Read the poem aloud, and identify examples of internal ...

[jon_i]

Read the poem aloud, and identify examples of internal alliteration.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Can you identify examples of personification and apostrophe in Hands?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 3

What effect is created by the songs combination of violence and tenderness? How would you describe the attitude of the speaker?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[nixon_s]

Answer to Question 1

• Examples of internal alliteration can be found in almost every line of the poem: hot, hard (line 1), Upon the pillow (2), littleticking (3), thought the throbbing (5), continual discontent (6), and the repetitions of so sick ( and especially come quick (910).

Answer to Question 2

In the first two thirds of the poem (lines 1, the speaker describes the cave paintings in a relatively straightforward manner, employing only two figures of speech, the metaphor cloud in line 3 and the simile like a sealed message in line 8. This simile sets up the passage in quotation marks that concludes the poem, and it is in these last four lines that we find personification, in endowing these igns-manual with the ability to reason and to speak articulately, and apostrophe, in their direct address to those who view them.

Answer to Question 3

• The speakers feelings toward her loverand, consequently, the effect that the song createsare quite complex, much more so than we may be accustomed to finding in the lyrics of popular songs. Clearly there is desire, as shown by the repetition of such statements as I want you and What will make you believe me? and especially the title phrase. There is a suggestion that the speakers destructive impulses may be fueled, at least in part, by the frustration of seeking and not finding the loved one. There may even be a hint that some of the speakers violent rage is directed at her lover (the word passion, after all, connotes not just emotional and physical desire for another, but strong feelings of all kinds); such feelings toward a loved one may be more common than is generally acknowledged, motivated perhaps by resentment at the lovers power over ones emotions and needs.