Alas, poor country!
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be call’d our mother, but our grave; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not mark’d; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstacy.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3. When Ross meets up with Macduff in England, Macduff asks how things are going in Scotland. Ross offers this grim report on the state of affairs back home under Macbeth’s rule. Ross can no longer think of Scotland as his motherland, but his grave. He uses personification to convey how his suffering country, afraid to know itself, has been turned from a joyful place of smiles into one of “groans and shrieks.”