The passage depicts an epiphany experienced by an adolescent, Stephen, as he wanders down a beach. He sees a silent, beautiful figure and observes her, transfixed. What is interesting is that the first paragraph of the extract also acts much like an introduction, setting the scene. It probably does this to ensure the reader that this dream-like passage is very real, and no dream nor hallucination.

The piece has many religious, immortal and divine implications, referring to the girl. There is a continuing bird theme, Stephen describes her as 'one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird'. She is also likened to a crane, her breasts said to be 'like some dark-plumaged dove', her dress 'dovetailed' behind her showing her drawers of 'soft white down'. The name of this story is Stephen Daedalus, Daedaus being the father of Icarus who in Greek mythology tried to escape his doom by making himself the wings of a bird with feathers and wax. The passage emphasizes bird qualities and makes many a mention of birds, especially those of pure colour. All of these bird-features are white, symbolising her purity, and peacefulness, she seems to have an etherea

'Heavenly God!' signifies a major change in the passage in view of the tone, pace and rhythm. It is the only dialogue in the extract and seems to be the culmination of the piece and also the essence of the message given. The pace is very quite, serene and gliding (almost bird-like), but the writer uses a mixture of short and long sentences with much punctuation to give it an air of excitement. The pace changes dramatically after 'Heavenly God!', the extract seems to move with Stephens beating heart, pulsating wildly, rejoicing: 'still the riot of his blood'. The entire passage is very poetic throughout and uses expressive language to cultivate feelings. It resembles a poem in many ways but mainly because of its repetition, this is usually a poetic tool but the writer has used it here to accentuate the importance of the epiphany. Being alone is one of the images that are repeated continually: 'he was alone...', 'She was alone...'. This sense of 'being alone' rather than 'loneliness' is worthy of note because even when the 'angel' notices Stephen it still stresses that she is not with him but detached from his world, and he from hers. She has given him a piece of the divine to cherish, an image of a

Some common words found in the essay are:
Icarus Greek, Christian Greek, , Daedalus Daedaus, witnessed divine, 'heavenly god',
Approximate Word count = 812
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)