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Motifs
Definition of Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition
Key Examples in Middlemarch
Book 2, Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Middlemarch the Town:
After introducing the character of Lydgate, the narrator describes the people of Middlemarch’s reaction to him, using a personification in the process:
Not only young virgins of that town, but gray-bearded men also, were often in haste to conjecture how a new acquaintance might be wrought into their purposes, contented with very vague knowledge as to the way in which life had been shaping him for that instrumentality. Middlemarch, in fact, counted on swallowing Lydgate and assimilating him very comfortably.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—A Heated Argument:
On their honeymoon, Dorothea and Casaubon get into an argument and Eliot uses a simile to capture its intensity:
Unlock with LitCharts A+This speech was delivered with an energy and readiness quite unusual with Mr. Casaubon. It was not indeed entirely an improvisation, but had taken shape in inward colloquy, and rushed out like the round grains from a fruit when sudden heat cracks it. Dorothea was not only his wife: she was a personification of that shallow world which surrounds the appreciated or desponding author.
Related Themes:
