Sunday, January 1, 2012

Does the poem "The War Against the Trees" have personification in it?

The clearest example of personification in the poem "The War Against the Trees" focuses on the bulldozers.  Described as being "drunk with gasoline" (line 3), they act like inebriated men on a date, crudely testing "the virtue of the soil" (line 4).  Later, the bulldozers wage war against the trees, "the great-grandfathers of the town" (line 9), "charg(ing) the trees...subverting them" (lines 13-14), and "ripping (them) from...crates much too big for hearts" (line 25).

A second example of personification is nature as it is represented by the trees.  The trees are described as "giants" being "forced...to their knees" (line 18), and their ruined, ravaged bodies are given human attributes, "seizure(s) (shaking) (their) crowns" (lines 17-18), their "club roots bar(ing)...amputated coils" (line 26).

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