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Difficulty: EasyPersonification and Anthropomorphism

Read the following poem by Emily Dickinson (1890):

The morns are meeker than they were—
The nuts are getting brown—
The berry's cheek is plumper—
The Rose is out of town.

The Maple wears a gayer scarf—
The Field a scarlet gown—
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

In the first stanza of the poem, how does the speaker use personification to depict the transition of the seasons?

  1. A
    By suggesting that a local resident named Rose has literally traveled away from the speaker's village
  2. B
    By revealing the poet’s personal feelings of social abandonment when her friends left her hometown
  3. By characterizing natural changes in the landscape as human social behaviors to convey the changing of the seasonsAnswer
  4. D
    By emphasizing that natural elements like "morns" and "Rose" must be capitalized to highlight their grammatical importance
  5. E
    By establishing a dark and mournful atmosphere to show that the speaker deeply fears the arrival of winter

Answer

The speaker uses personification to characterize natural changes in the landscape as human social behaviors to convey the changing of the seasons.
The correct option is correct because the speaker personifies the morning as 'meeker,' the berry as having a 'cheek,' and the rose as being 'out of town.' These human descriptions represent literal natural occurrences (cooling mornings, ripening berries, and the end of the rose's bloom) as familiar social behaviors, illustrating the passage of seasons.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the personified elements in the first stanza of the poem.
The mornings are described as 'meeker,' the berry is given a 'cheek' that is 'plumper,' and the 'Rose' is described as being 'out of town.'
Recognizing where non-human natural elements are given human traits or behaviors is essential for analyzing personification.
2
Determine the literal natural phenomena represented by these personifications.
The mornings are growing cooler and softer, the berries are ripening, and the roses are fading as summer ends.
Connecting the figurative language to its literal meaning reveals that the stanza is describing the transition from late summer to early autumn.
3
Analyze how these personifications function together in the context of the stanza.
By framing the seasonal shifts as human traits and social actions, the speaker depicts the transition of nature in a playful, accessible manner rather than a detached or scientific way.
This confirms that the primary function of the device is to characterize natural changes as human behaviors to depict the seasonal shift.

Key Concept

Personification in Poetry
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Personification and Anthropomorphism

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