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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 The Secret Garden
Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—The Robin:
Burnett uses personification to make a robin into an important character in The Secret Garden. In doing so, she makes the natural world of Yorkshire seem welcoming and human to the children who are experiencing it. The robin is so intensely personified that Burnett actually has the narrator take up the robin's own story in the same way they represent the inner feelings of human characters. The following happens in Chapter 25:
At first the robin watched Mary and Colin with sharp anxiety. For some mysterious reason he knew he need not watch Dickon. The first moment he set his dew-bright black eye on Dickon he knew he was not a stranger but a sort of robin without beak or feathers. He could speak robin (which is a quite distinct language not to be mistaken for any other). To speak robin to a robin is like speaking French to a Frenchman. Dickon always spoke it to the robin himself, so the queer gibberish he used when he spoke to humans did not matter in the least.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Father Figures :
Burnett sets up an unusual pair of characters as contrasting father figures in The Secret Garden: Archibald Craven, the Lord of Misselthwaite Manor, and the small, highly personified robin who lives in the gardens of his house. The robin's excellent, loving and attentive parenting is visible for all to see and remark on, in contrast to the public and painful absenteeism of Craven. For example, in Chapter 25 the narrator takes up the robin's perspective, describing his absolute devotion to his mate and children. Nothing is ever as important to the robin, Burnett tells the reader, as:
Unlock with LitCharts A+the immense, tender, terrible, heart-breaking beauty and solemnity of Eggs. If there had been one person in that garden who had not known through all his or her innermost being that if an Egg were taken away or hurt the whole world would whirl round and crash through space and come to an end—if there had been even one who did not feel it and act accordingly there could have been no happiness even in that golden springtime air. But they all knew it and felt it and the robin and his mate knew they knew it.
Related Themes:
