The Gardener

by Rudyard Kipling

The Gardener: Personification 1 key example

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
Personification
Explanation and Analysis—Merciless Sea:

When Helen finally makes it to the cemetery, the dead figuratively return to life through a blend of metaphor and personification. Kipling metaphorically compares the cemetery to both a sea and a field of weeds. In addition, he personifies the thousands of crosses by writing that they possess faces and by describing their motion towards her.

She did not know that Hagenzeele Third counted twenty-one thousand dead already. All she saw was a merciless sea of black crosses, bearing little strips of stamped tin at all angles across their faces. She could distinguish no order or arrangement in their mass; nothing but a waist-high wilderness as of weeds stricken dead, rushing at her.