What is personification? How has Wordsworth employed this figure of speech in the poem?
Ans. Personification is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract concept is spoken of as though it were offered with life or with human feelings. In the sonnet, the poet William Wordsworth employed this figure of speech by personifying the city of London, the river Thames and the houses. Like a living being the London city wears the garment of the morning beauty, the river Thames is gliding of its own sweet will and the houses seem sleeping. 3. Emily Dickinson: '341 After Great Pain' After great pain, a formal feeling comes - (372) BY EMILY DICKINSON After great pain, a formal feeling comesThe Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs - The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,' And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before"? The Feet, mechanical, go roundA Wooden way Of Ground, or Air, or Ought – Regardless grown, A Quartz contentment, like a stoneThis is the Hour of LeadRemembered, if outlived, As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow
First-Chill - then Stupor - then the letting goSUMMARY The speaker notes that following great pain, "a formal feeling" often sets in, during which the "Nerves" are solemn and "ceremonious, like Tombs." The heart questions whether it ever really endured such pain and whether it was really so recent ("The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore, / And Yesterday, or Centuries before?"). The feet continue to plod mechanically, with a wooden way, and the heart feels a stone-like contentment. This, the speaker says, is “the Hour of Lead," and if the person experiencing it survives this Hour, he or she will remember it in the same way that "Freezing persons" remember the snow: "First-Chill-then Stupor-then the letting go-"
