Personification is a figure of speech. By its use, an inanimate object is "personified;" that is, given human attributes and characteristics for literary effects.
Jean Toomer is an expert in its use.
In CANE (1923, 2011), Toomer's classic Harlem Renaissance-era offering about the lustful workers of the post-Reconstruction South, in the chapter, "Kabnis," he waxes forth in personification, to wit:
"The walls, unpainted , are seasoned a rosin yellow. And cracks between the boards are black . These cracks are the lips the night winds use for whispering. Night winds in Georgia are vagrant poets, whispering. Kabnis, against his will, lets his book slip down, and listens to them ." P.111
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
PERSONIFICATION: JEAN TOOMER
Personification is a figure of speech. By its use, an inanimate object is "personified;" that is, given human attributes and characteristics for literary effects.
Jean Toomer is an expert in its use.
In CANE (1923, 2011), Toomer's classic Harlem Renaissance-era offering about the lustful workers of the post-Reconstruction South, in the chapter, "Kabnis," he waxes forth in personification, to wit:
"The walls, unpainted , are seasoned a rosin yellow. And cracks between the boards are black . These cracks are the lips the night winds use for whispering. Night winds in Georgia are vagrant poets, whispering. Kabnis, against his will, lets his book slip down, and listens to them ." P.111