Shakspeare is fond of making fun of it. But it has unconsciously survived in the language; and there is not a single great English poet, from Shakspeare to Tennyson, who does not make a large use of it. Thus Shakspeare himself has
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Full fathom five thy father lies.
Milton gives us such lines as:
Him the Almighty power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky.
Shelley has the line:
Our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought.
Tennyson is very fond of alliteration. Thus, in the Day-Dream:
And o’er them many a sliding star
And many a merry wind was borne;
And, streamed through many a golden bar,
The twilight melted into morn.