2. The familiar lines Are footpaths for the thoughts of Italy.
—Longfellow.
3. Life is a leaf of paper white, Whereon each one of us may write His word or two, and then comes night.
—Lowell.
+90. Personification.+—Personification is a special form of the metaphor in which life is attributed to inanimate objects or the characteristics of persons are attributed to objects, animals, or even to abstract ideas.
EXERCISES
Explain why the following quotations are examples of personifications:—
1. The day is done; and slowly from the scene The stooping sun upgathers his spent shafts And puts them back into his golden quiver.
—Longfellow.
2. Time is a cunning workman and no man can detect his joints.